A Tangent in Time
by Lekythos
Summary: Liz lets her heart overrule her head and makes a choice without worrying about what might happen tomorrow. But the consequences could be worse than she'd ever have imagined. EoTW
1. Chapter 1

**Just a bit of a What If following the plot of season 2 fairly closely. I may have taken some liberties with the timeframes between events for the sake of the plot. Though, since I went to school in the Southern Hemisphere, I don't really know how much time passes between Christmas and Prom in US schools.**

* * *

Liz let herself pretend as he pulled her into his arms. This was still Max. So completely the same; and so incredibly different. But the heat of him as he held her, the look of adoration in his eyes when he looked at her… This was still the man she loved. No matter what he had been through in the 14 years that she would never have.

She laughed when he spun her. Part of her was shocked that she could laugh at a time like this, but she silenced that part. If this was the last time she would get to touch the love of her life then she wasn't going to waste time mourning or worrying about tomorrow. And the way he smiled as he pulled her back into his arms made her heart flutter like it always did when Max held her. She met his eyes and couldn't stop herself. She leaned up on her toes to touch her lips to his.

His arms tightened around her and for a fraction of a second he hesitated but then his lips were crushing against hers. He kissed her like he was drowning and she was oxygen, pulling her even closer and holding her like he would never ever let her go. It was all she wanted. He was all that she wanted. His name shuddered across her lips.

His breath was ragged as he forced himself to stop, to loosen his grip and ease back. This wasn't his wife; this was an innocent 17 year old girl who deserved better.

"Liz…" He sighed, "I'm sorry. I… I shouldn't have taken advantage. I didn't –"

"Max." Liz interrupted him, "I love you. I am so completely in love with you. And tomorrow I'll have to… All I have left is tonight. And tonight all I want is you." Her voice dropped to a whisper as she slid her hands to his chest, "Please, Max. Give me tonight."

He brought his hand up and brushed his thumb over her cheek. "It's not a good idea, Liz. I'm going to vanish any moment. Besides, you said you weren't ready."

"14 years." Liz fisted her hands in his shirt, "You had 14 years. All those days that you had, all those moments – I will never have any of them. I know that tomorrow is going to be hard. That the next year is going to be agony. That I will never get to kiss the man I love again. I need one more perfect moment to get through that. I want you to be my first, Max. I've always wanted that."

Max brushed her hair back from her face and gave her the tiniest smile, "I never could say no to you."

He leaned down and pressed the lightest kiss to her mouth then he scooped her into his arms and carried her inside to her bedroom.

* * *

Afterwards he lay holding her in his arms, his fingers tracing designs on her skin. Just as he had the first time, fourteen years ago and today.

"I remember our first time." He spoke softly, "It was perfect. We were both so nervous and clumsy and awkward."

He let out a small laugh. "It was perfect," He repeated, "And it was nothing like this."

He wasn't looking at her now. Instead his eyes were staring at things she would never see. She reached for his hand while he continued to speak.

"I left her behind," He glanced at her blindly, "My wife. The woman I loved my whole life. We both knew what coming back here would mean; that it would destroy us both. And I left her." There were tears in his eyes now. He grasped her hand and placed a kiss on it.

"And you're not her," his voice a whisper now, "And now you never will be. I'm sure you'll still be beautiful and brilliant and kind. I know that no matter what the future holds I would love any version of you. But you won't be the woman that I was married to for 11 years. She's gone now."

His breath was shuddering now as the tears took him, "Hopefully you'll have fewer scars. Hopefully you'll see less grief… hopefully you'll be happy."

Liz pulled him into her arms, his head resting on her shoulder as he wept for the wife he would never have, all the glorious days that she would never know.

"Shh…" she whispered in his ear, "It's okay. I'm right here. I'll always be here. I love you, Max."

She held him as the tears faded and his breathing eased. He pulled back and reached to smooth a hand over her hair. But the hand was fading before his eyes.

He took a deep breath and looked one last time at the only woman he had ever loved.

"I'm not worried about you, Liz." He smiled, "It's going to be hard, but you're the strongest person I ever met. You amazed me every day. You can do anything. Don't ever forget that."

She could see him fading now. She tried to hold onto him but there wasn't anything to hold onto.

"I love you, Liz Parker." His voice echoed through her soul as he disappeared completely.

Liz spread her hand across the empty space beside her on the bed. Her hand fisted into the sheets and she curled in on herself – alone in the room, alone in the world – as she let reality consume her and she wept.

* * *

Liz fumbled blearily for her beeping alarm. She managed to shut off the blaring noise and collapsed back onto her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her head ached. Her throat burned. Her eyes were crusted from crying herself to sleep. She felt like she had a weight on her chest, pinning her to the bed. She flapped the duvet over her head.

Maybe she could just stay here. Tell her parents she was sick. Forever. Never have to face anyone. It was a different world that she woke up into today than it had been yesterday and she cringed away from the thought of having to face it.

Maybe she could take it back. Maybe she could run straight to Max and tell him the truth. So what if her story was completely insane and he had no reason to believe her and every reason to hate her. She could still salvage…something.

But she could hear his voice whispering in her head – _I'm not worried about you Liz_. He gave up his whole life for this. He was counting on her. She couldn't let him down.

Besides, she thought as she dragged herself into the bathroom, there has to be a first day of this. Better to get it over with than live in dread of it for however long she could put it off.

...

There was always another crisis. She shouldn't have been surprised when the whole team showed up at her door needing info on Whittaker. She had been hoping she might be able to avoid Max for at least a day but of course the alien drama wouldn't give her a break. And now she was stuck in a house with him in a tiny town with nowhere to run to. The drive had been the worst, mind-blanking on any reasonable answer to his very direct questions. She'd stuttered out some vague excuses. She found herself repeating "It just happened".

Then there was the sitting right next to him at the Crawford's pretending it wasn't remotely uncomfortable. And now it seemed like every time she walked into a room Max was there. She needed out. She needed air.

She should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Why was he making this so hard? Why couldn't he just hate her and refuse to speak to her? Why did he have to have such faith in her?

She steeled herself, looked him in the eye and lied.

"Kyle and I made love. The end. I'm sorry."

She could practically see his heart break. She watched him walk away, and then she turned and moved blindly in the other direction.

...

Three weeks and still she was tiptoeing around Max. She missed him. She missed everything - his jokes, his smile. She missed being able to just sit next to him in class. She felt sick when she thought about him. And she couldn't stop thinking about him. The stress was making her physically sick, plus exhausted all the time. She couldn't continue like this. She needed some kind of stability with Max, an understanding of some sort. They couldn't ever be together but maybe if they could start over as friends she would finally be able to breathe again.

But when she asked him he said he couldn't be friends. And, as they found themselves once more dragged into alien drama as dopplegangers swarmed the town, Liz found herself wondering if this would be her life from now on; forced to work with Max but unable to talk to him.

Then suddenly he was leaving. Off to New York and not sure if he was coming back. She walked through the next days in a blur, feeling like she should have said something to stop him leaving. She was certain she should have felt relief to have some time apart from him but instead she missed him even more. It certainly didn't help when Maria confronted her about the rumours she'd slept with Kyle. She thought she would at least be free of that particular lie with Max gone but somehow she was back to looking someone she loved in the eye and destroying their faith in her.

It was somehow worse with Maria. Liz made it through all of one evening of Maria's snide remarks and cold shoulder. That night she couldn't sleep, Maria had been the one constant in her life through all of this alien insanity and she didn't think she could do it without her. Finally, at 3 am she gave in and called Maria, demanding that they meet straight away.

It was hard to tell her what had happened. It took her a few tries to figure out how to start, but as she continued she felt like a weight was lifting from her heart. She'd been holding this in for almost a month and to finally tell someone was a huge relief. Even more so when Maria was so accepting of her explanation and apology.

"I'm so sorry that I got so mad," Maria shook her head, "I should have known that it was, you know an alien thing."

Maria sighed and then asked the question Liz had been dreading, "Are you still a virgin?"

Liz hesitated, knowing that this was the secret Maria might not forgive her for keeping.

"No," She whispered. Seeing the look on Maria's face she hurried on, "I wanted to tell you but I couldn't without telling you the whole story and he said I couldn't tell anyone. After all of that, when we were waiting to see if Future Max would disappear, I slept with him. I slept with a 32 year old version of Max that is never going to exist."

Maria blinked at her, "Wow... that's..." She trailed off.

"I know!" Liz buried her face in her hands, "It's messed up on so many levels. I mean, when I think about it now, I feel like I betrayed Max, and I know the age difference is pretty creepy, not to mention the whole lost my virginity to a guy who doesn't exist thing. But, you know, at the time..."

She took a deep breath and looked back up at Maria, "He was Max. He was Max in all the most important ways, including how much he loved me. And I knew it was my last chance to be with Max like that so I just... I didn't think about the consequences or the context."

Maria was looking at her with sympathy again.

"Okay," She said, "Under the circumstances I guess I will forgive you for not telling me that you lost your vigrinity for – how long?"

"About a month." Liz replied.

"A whole month!," Maria shook her head, "I'll let you pass on that failure as a friend. But don't think you're getting out of telling me all of the gory details. Tell me everything. Did it hurt?"

"Not really," Liz confessed, "There were some moments of discomfort, but they didn't last very long. And he _definitely_ knew what he was doing."

"Oooh," Maria laughed, "So how long did it last? First kiss to orgasmic afterglow? How many minutes are we talking?"

Liz grinned as she tried to answer her friends increasingly detailed and specific questions. She'd been alone with this secret for too long. It was worth all of the embarrassing questions to have Maria back on her side. She even found herself thinking maybe she didn't need to be on speaking terms with Max if she had Maria to hold her hand and make her laugh. It still wouldn't be easy to sit next to him in class or in their alien crisis meetings, but having an ally made the prospect infinitely easier to face.

...

Liz had stopped counting the days since Future Max had disappeared. Things had improved so much since Max came back from New York. They were friends again, trusting each other. Liz knew that her betrayal was still there, a wall between them, but they had found a way to exist comfortably around it. Even as they dealt with more alien disasters she found herself feeling happier than she really should have been. Missing girls and the Sheriff being suspended really shouldn't make anyone smile, but with Max beside her once again she felt like they could take on anything.

But despite the new reduced stress life she was enjoying she still found herself feeling sick frequently. She was still tired all the time and now she was getting headaches as well. She kept hoping it was just the tail end of the stress from her disastrous break up with Max, but as the weeks progressed she started to suspect something more might be wrong.

While Maria and Michael went running off after Laurie Dupree, Liz found herself shoving thoughts to the back of her head. She caught herself mentally counting the weeks before she would shut down that thought process. It wasn't worth considering that possibility. It wasn't a possibility anyway.

She jumped on the distraction of working out what the strange blue crystal was. But when they found out it could be an apocalyptic level threat the first thought that crossed her mind was _what about the baby?_ She had to face up to the facts. She was the biology person. Everyone knew that. Liz Parker was meant too smart to have unprotected sex, even if it was with a guy who vanished within the hour. It was a bit late for that, 2 months late, but she didn't have to be the person too stupid to realise she could be pregnant. The symptoms she'd passed off as psychological were all common pregnancy symptoms. She needed to know, one way or another, even if the earth was contaminated.


	2. Chapter 2

Pregnant. Liz stared at the test in her hands. Even now she didn't really believe it. She fumbled for the second test – same answer. She was having a baby; making a new life as she stared at her hands. How did she end up here?

She ran her hands over her still flat stomach. Max's baby. She smiled. She couldn't have Max but she would have a part of him. Her brow creased as she considered that. He could never know. He wouldn't believe it anyway; as far as he was concerned they'd never done the prerequisite activity. But even if she could convince him… the future depended on him being with Tess. She couldn't be responsible for the world ending. Not when she could stop it. Tears stung her eyes as she realised there was no other option. Max could never know.

Liz jumped when the phone started to ring. She stood up and moved towards it, pausing to take a deep breath and compose herself before answering.

"Hello?" Her voice was steady.

"Liz," Max's voice was less steady. It was anxious, like it so frequently was. "I've called a meeting. Tess and Iz and I will be there in 10 minutes. We need to come up with some sort of plan to deal with these crystals. I don't know what Larek meant by the earth being infected but we need to figure out our next move."

"Right," Liz glanced back toward the bathroom where her life had changed a few minutes ago. The world might not be the same but it was still in danger. She could figure out what to do about the baby situation after they sorted out the latest alien crisis. Besides, Larek had made it sound like they might not be able to fix this one. No point stressing about decisions if she wasn't going to survive to make them. "Of course. I'll be here."

...

She spent the day trying to keep her mind on the problem in front of her. Stop the Gandarium, save the world. But she caught herself looking at Max and wondering if the child would have his eyes or his chin. She had to take a deep breath when she said goodbye to her Dad; he was not going to be impressed when she told him. And how would she answer the father question? And what if the baby wasn't entirely human? She kept having to drag herself back to the present. None of it would matter if they couldn't stop the crystals.

But they did. Disaster averted once again. There was the cheering and the hugging, and then the going home. Where she no longer had anything to distract her. No longer had any excuse to push the situation out of her mind. Thoughts were careening around her head before she could even grasp them. She needed to calm down. She needed to think rationally.

Fact 1: She was having a baby.

Fact 2: Max's baby.

Fact 3: Which therefore might not be entirely human.

Fact 4: Max couldn't know he was the father.

Fact 5: Which meant her parents and friends could never know that Max was the father.

When you added those up there were some pretty definite answers. Fact 1 meant she needed help, but Fact 3 meant she couldn't entirely trust doctors and hospitals. Fact 4 and Fact 5 meant that she would have to come up with a convincing lie. Facts 2 and 3 meant that her child might not be safe here, what with aliens and shady government agencies and extra-terrestrial parasites or whatever the next catastrophe was going to be. Plus the added risk that the baby might look enough like it's father to raise suspicions.

That meant there were some things she needed to work out. A lie for her parents would be the easy part. Some sort of stupid mistake with a stranger; she could practice with Maria to iron out the details and make sure it was convincing. But the easiest solution to the rest of the problems would be getting out of Roswell. If she could convince her parents not to tell anyone that she was pregnant at all, to send her off to a cousin somewhere far away, then she would need another lie to tell her friends why she was leaving. And could she really be thinking that she might never come back?

She was pacing now. It was the middle of the night and she was pacing. She wished she could talk to someone but the only person who would understand any of this was Maria and she wouldn't be back until tomorrow at the earliest.

She forced herself to climb into bed. She should be sleeping. Pregnant women needed sleep. But her mind was still churning through to do lists. _Prenatal vitamins, find a discrete doctor, buy a pregnancy book. She kept reminding herself that she could think about all of this in the morning, but she didn't drift off until she was the third time through mentally preparing how to break the news to Maria._

 _..._

"Geez, Liz, would you stop pacing?" Maria was reclining on the deck chair watching Liz move back and forth across the balcony. "You're making me dizzy. Just tell me what the big drama is so we can deal with it."

"I… This is big Maria," Liz flailed her hands uselessly, "Life changing big. I kept trying to figure out how to say it but now all of it is just…" She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, "You're going to be so disappointed in me."

Maria stood up and moved towards Liz, pulling her around to look her in the eye, "Liz, I love you. Nothing you could say would change that. So just tell me so that I can have whatever freak out I need to have and then we can move on."

Liz looked into her best friends eyes, her best friend who was meant to be the anxious panicky one but was completely calm. She took a deep breath.

"I'm pregnant."

Silence followed her statement as a multitude of emotions washed over Maria's face. Her hands gripped Liz's shoulders more tightly.

Maria swallowed back the hysteria in her throat and tried to keep her voice even, "Do I need to ask who?"

"No," Liz whispered, "The only person, the worst possible person. A Max that doesn't even exist anymore."

"Oh god." Maria released Liz to start pacing herself, "Are you going to keep it? If you don't want to we can deal with that. I don't know where to get an abortion but we can find out. But if you want to keep it… What are we going to tell people? We'd have to just tell Max the truth, right? He's technically the father so he has a right to know but he wouldn't exactly believe it without the whole story. And your parents!" She was pacing faster now, "Your dad will want to castrate him! And he hasn't even really done anything to deserve it. And with the rumours at school people will think that it's Kyle's so we'll have to warn him what to expect. Or pre-empt any of that by just making an announcement that it's Max's. Which brings us back to convincing Max that he's going to be a father when as far as I know he hasn't slept with anyone yet, let alone you."

"Maria!" It was Liz's turn to grab the other girl's arms and hold her in place, "Stop. I've thought about this a lot. Max can't know."

"What?!" Maria looked at her best friend incredulously, "That child is his genetic off-spring! How can you keep that from him?"

"Because I have to. Future Max made it very clear that Max could never know what happened. The future of the planet depends on that. And that's beside the fact that Max has enemies and those enemies would probably be very interested in getting hold of his child."

"So you're just going to lie to him?" Maria was appalled, "Tell him, what, that it's Kyle's? Or make up some stranger to blame paternity on? And you think he won't notice when the kid comes out looking exactly like him or, I don't know, starts moving things with its mind?"

"No…" Liz sighed, "Worse. I'm not going to let him find out about the baby at all."

"You… How?" Maria looked scared now.

"I'm going to leave Roswell."

Maria had no response to that. The implications were rushing through her head. She had to sit down.

Liz watched silently as Maria perched herself on the edge of the chair. She could see that she needed a minute to process. She deserved that.

When Maria finally spoke her voice was thick with suppressed emotion.

"And what about me?" She whispered, "What about your parents? And Alex? Michael and Isabel and Kyle? What about your family?"

Liz sat next to Maria and took her hand, "Maria, you are my heart and soul. I never want to leave you behind and no matter where I go there will always be a place for you. But I have to think about this child too. And what I have to do to keep it safe. I'll tell my parents most of the truth. I'll convince them to keep it to themselves, at least for now, and to send me away to stay with a cousin. I'll come up with a cover story to tell the others. Once the baby comes, once I know how…" She took a sharp breath, "How human it is then I can assess my next move. If I'm out of sight for a while then I can come up with a more convincing story. Right now, they all know me too well to believe that I would hook up with a stranger. But after a while I can claim to have met someone after I left. I'm not saying I'm going to be gone forever, Maria, but right now I need to be somewhere I feel safe."

Maria was crying now. She understood and she didn't understand. Liz was no longer her high school friend, she was already a mother. She didn't think the same way Maria did anymore. That made sense. And if she was putting her baby first… Maria couldn't argue with that. But to just leave…

"Okay." Maria took a steadying breath, "I don't agree with you, but I get it. If this is what you need to do then I will be there every step of the way. But I want something from you first."

"What's that?"

"One month. I want one month where we pretend everything is hunky dory and never going to end. One month where we fit in all of the last high school moments that we can before you go be a Mom and I stay here to stagnate into whatever I become. We laugh. We eat junk food. And we go to Prom. After Prom you can leave Roswell and never look back, but until then I want to savour every last moment I have with you." Maria turned her head to smile at Liz, "You're my best friend, Liz Parker, and I'm not ready to lose you yet."

...

It had gone more or less as expected. Her dad had cried, her mom had yelled. She had rehearsed her story with Maria so many times before hand that it came out easily. They were predictably unimpressed when she told them she didn't catch the full name of the guy she slept with after too much alcohol at a party. They accused her of protecting someone, but she was convincing in her shame of not being able to identify the father of her child. It was pretty easy to summon the tears, she felt like crying all the time now anyway. Was that hormones or just the situation?

It was harder to convince them to keep it secret. They wanted her to stay. Her whole life was in Roswell, it wasn't something she should run away from. It took an hour to talk them around to it. Telling them that she couldn't face the town, her friends; that it was hard enough admitting to them that she had made such an astronomical mistake and she'd known that as angry and disappointed as they would be they would also forgive her and help her with whatever she needed. But her friends and classmates… they wouldn't be so merciful.

But she'd gotten them on her side eventually. And they seemed pretty happy to have the month that she'd promised Maria as well. And with the three of them on her side she felt like a weight was lifted from her. She wasn't alone now and she had time to figure out the rest of it.

Turned out she didn't have to figure out all of it herself anyway. Just 2 days later her dad came to her with a suggestion that would also serve as a perfect cover story. There was a boarding school in Vermont that her Aunt and Uncle had sent one of her cousins to. They offered a fast track program, usually for Juniors wanting to complete 2 years in one, but they had heard about her grades and agreed that they could accept her to the program if she only missed one semester. It would be tough, but she could still get her high school diploma on schedule after the baby was born. Liz wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of leaving her new born for months at a time so she could go to school, but it was nice to think that she didn't have to completely give up her ivy league dreams. So she let herself believe it was a possibility.

Maria, meanwhile, was keeping her promise of filling the month with as much fun as possible. They watched movies, sang karaoke, danced in the hallways at school.

"Come on, Liz! Come to Vegas. You promised me a month. And it will be so great to have the whole gang together. It'll be like a secret goodbye party for you. One last hurrah before you trade it in for nappies and strollers."

She tried explaining that it wouldn't be a pleasant trip since that's where she and Max had gotten married in the future that never was but Maria brushed it off.

"That never happened, Liz. What did happen was that Future Max got you pregnant and then disappeared, effectively abandoning you to be a single mother at seventeen. Soon you're going to have a kid. You're not going to get the chance to experience some all-expenses paid shenanigan in Vegas for many years once that kid comes. So if you want to make your own memories, now's the time to do it."

So she'd caved. And it hadn't exactly been the most amazing day, on her own with a pinball machine, but it was totally worth every moment to see Maria get up on that stage. She was beautiful and amazing and Liz was going to miss her so much. All of them. She could see Kyle and Tess right in the middle of the floor, Alex and Isabel over to the side, and Michael, half hidden by the curtains, not taking his eyes off Maria. They were her family. She didn't want to leave them.

Her eyes were starting to sting when a shadow dropped over her. She looked up and there he was. He didn't even have to say anything. Just held out his hand. When she looked at him it was almost like it used to be, like she could see into his soul. She fit so perfectly into his arms. She'd forgotten how he made her feel complete.

She smiled up at him, "Thought you'd be at the airport by now."

"I was on my way and then I…" He hesitated, "I had this… weird moment."

"What do you mean?"

"I had this vision of you and me," he began, "jumping out of a cab, like we'd just been married in Vegas."

Her heart started racing at his words. This wasn't possible. This future was gone.

"That's weird." She managed with half a laugh.

"Yeah, it was like this... this memory flash of something that really happened…" He shook his head.

She saw the whole thing as she looked into his eyes. The future that she thought she'd lost, still there, within her grasp. What if she just told him? What if she just took back the life she could have had?

"Max…" The confession was on the tip of her tongue, "Max…"

The music came to an end and around her the room burst into applause. The moment passed. All her reasons and logic came back to her. This wasn't something she could have. But she let him hold her hand as they moved back to the table. She still had two weeks left to let herself pretend.

...

Those two weeks passed in a blur. There were more alien dramas with Brody taking them all hostage, then her bribery date with Sean. It felt cruel to spend time with him when she knew she was leaving. But she still hadn't told anyone that she was going yet so she didn't know what to say to him about it.

She didn't want to give the others time to try and talk her out of going. She didn't want them to treat her differently in her last days here. She would have time after prom. Her parents had agreed to give her a handful of days after prom to say her goodbyes and pack up her life. Then she would head to Florida to stay with her aunt. She could feel the end creeping up on her, but she was determined to enjoy every last minute she had of what she already thought of as her old life. She was grateful now that Maria had demanded this month. She wouldn't have guessed how valuable it would be to have this countdown.

But being with Sean reminded her that she could still have her own life, she could still make new friends and experience new things. She was going to be a mother, she wasn't going to die. Her life had revolved around Max for so long now and even though it was hard to say goodbye to that life it was exhilarating to know that she had so many other adventures ahead of her.

Hearing Max talk about how he was remembering his past life had the opposite effect. It hurt to think that he would keep remembering next week, but she wouldn't be there to hear about it. She wouldn't hear his jokes or watch him move on with his life. She wouldn't be there for the next alien catastrophe. Sitting there listening to him talk about his past all Liz heard was echoes of his future, a future she wasn't going to be a part of. And when she saw him with Tess…

She tried to push it to the back of her mind, tried to get caught up in Maria's latest relationship drama, but with each passing moment the feeling that this was the end grew stronger. It was almost unbearable. And when she danced with Max at prom she didn't feel the comfort she had in Vegas. She felt like she had taken it too far, like it was time to rip off the band aid.

"Max." She began, "I just want to say that I feel really weird."

"What do you mean?" His voice was light, unburdened.

"I mean I saw you with Tess." She replied.

"You saw me what with Tess?" A hint of defensiveness in his voice now.

"I saw you _with_ her." Liz clarified, "I came by your house yesterday to talk to you about something and you were with her."

"We were just trying to find out things about where we came from. That's all."

"Mhmm," She nodded, "I know. I know." She glanced away and then back. "I mean, you know, you keep saying that. But you keep leaving out this really pertinent fact – that you were married to her." She knew where she was going now. Knew what she had to say to make him understand. "I feel like my whole life for the past year has been waiting for some really bad news – _oh, you know, by the way Liz, I remember Tess and I love her. It's really paralyzing."_

"I know it's not easy." She could feel the tension in his arms now.

"No, Max, it can be. It can be really, really easy. You know, if we both just stop pretending."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe we're both just holding on to something that will never be. Max, maybe we should just let go." She looked up at him and let all of the emotions she'd been tamping down burble up into her throat, "I've been in so much pain this whole year and it's like… I'm suffocating."

"Liz," There was a plea in his voice, a desperation.

"That's why I'm leaving." Her voice was still quavering slightly, but her eyes were dry.

"What?"

"There's this boarding school in Vermont. They have this Ivy League program that's meant to be amazing. I talked to my parents about it and they've agreed to let me go there." She pulled her hands away from him slowly. "I'm leaving next week."

"You… Liz…" He looked shocked, "At least let us talk about this. Roswell is your whole life. You're just going to run away? Because of me?"

"Max… It's not just you." She struggled to put conviction into her voice. "I've thought about this a lot. I've talked with my parents. This is the right move for me. I need to find out who I am away from you and away from all of this alien drama. Plus, it's a great opportunity. And if it makes it easier for both of us to move on… well, that's just a bonus."

"Liz…"

His expression was anguished. She looked away and spotted Maria moping by the side of the dance floor. She gestured weakly towards her.

"I should probably go. You know, Maria… she's all alone." She looked back at him now. His eyes were still full of pain but there was something else there now too. Something like understanding.

"Go ahead." He whispered.

"Max…" She couldn't stop the tears now.

He gave her the tiniest smile, "Go ahead."

She turned and walked away from the man she loved, the father of her child. She walked blindly towards Maria, trusting that Maria would catch her.

"Liz!" Maria's arms closed around her, "What happened, baby?"

"I told Max I'm leaving. I'm really leaving."

"Oh sweetie," Maria held her until her sobs eased and then pulled back and wiped the smeared mascara from under Liz's eyes. "I know this is hard. I know how much it hurts. But we are going to be fine. And we're going to start by getting out there and dancing like idiots even though our hearts are broken. Okay?"

Liz giggled, "That is a plan."

Michael had shown up, of course. And as soon as he did Maria went straight back to being blissfully in love again. Liz smiled as she watched them. This was good. It was right. Maria didn't need her. That was how it was meant to be. She looked around the rest of the hall at the people she knew so well and others she barely knew at all. She saw Isabel and Alex kissing on the dance floor. That was a development they'd all been waiting for. Everything would be okay now. These people would be fine after she left.

She still worried about Max though. She couldn't see him anywhere. Even though he'd given her his blessing to leave she didn't expect him to be happy about it. She made her way out into the hall to look for him. She turned the corner and her heart stopped.

He was _kissing_ Tess. _He moves fast_. The thought whispered across her mind. Seemed he didn't need her either. No one did. She was ready to leave this place behind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey look, reviews! How nice. It's good to hear people are enjoying this. As for the comment about Liz's decisions - I agree. If she had some time to process the situation I'm sure she would realise what she was giving up. Sadly, I'm not going to be giving her that time...**

 **I got a little bit stuck in the middle of this one which is why it took a while, but I have most of the next chapter done already so hopefully that will be up pretty soon.**

* * *

She was sitting in the Crashdown, calculating the days taking while around her she could hear the others laughing. It was almost time now, she knew. She wanted to wait until everyone was together so she didn't have to say it more than once, but she only had 3 days to go now.

Maria's scream cut off her train of thought. She jumped up to catch the blonde as she barrelled through the door closely followed by the sheriff. She stared at him, waiting to hear what had caused Maria to react like this, dreading hearing.

"Alex is dead."

The words echoed through her head, but they didn't make any sense. She barely reacted as around her people started talking. She heard planning, then everyone was moving. But none of it really registered. She followed the others to the morgue in a daze. Watched Max go into the van. And knew as soon as he came back out again.

She was numb. She was empty. There were too many people around. And then there weren't. They all moved off in their own directions.

Her thoughts kept circling. And always came back to the same thing. It didn't make sense. Alex couldn't just be dead. She needed to make sense of this. She needed more information.

...

No one would believe her. She knew this wasn't right she could feel it in every part of her. But no one would listen to her. And Valenti's suicide theory was just… impossible. He was happy. She knew that. He was dreaming of the future and he never would have hurt them like that. She needed proof. She needed something that they would believe.

She told her parents she wasn't leaving now. She couldn't go when this needed to be solved, and no one else was going to do it. They suggested she just postpone her departure, but she knew that wasn't an option now. She'd done this. If she hadn't changed the future then Alex would still be alive. Future Max had convinced her that there was nothing worse than the future he came from, but she couldn't believe that now. All bets were off.

And what if she left and someone else died? What if she could have saved them somehow? What if she could have saved him?

She went to see Max, had a minor breakdown. She felt better knowing he was on her side. She told him that she'd seen him with Tess. When she had been planning on leaving she was going to let that pass without comment, but now she needed to be on solid ground with Max. She needed him as her friend. She told him she wouldn't be going to Vermont now. But that it was good that he was moving on. That she was okay. Just as long as long as he would always be her friend.

And then the funeral. She'd thought she was ready, that she'd accepted Alex's death and her part in it but as she stood there at the graveside it hit her harder than ever. She'd heard his future from someone who'd been there. He was meant to dance at her wedding, but instead he was lying in that coffin, never to dance, or even stand again. She had changed the future and somehow that had caused this. It was her fault.

She walked through the service and most of the wake in a daze of agony. She wanted to tell someone it was her fault but she couldn't. They wouldn't understand, they wouldn't believe her. They would try to comfort her or convince her she was making things up when she knew she didn't deserve that. She deserved to suffer for causing Alex's death. It was torture to see how his death had torn apart the people around him, to talk to his dad as if she wasn't to blame, but she wanted that pain. She needed to feel that tearing in her soul. It was the closest to penance she could get.

She made her way up to his room and stood there simply soaking in the ghost of his presence for a moment before the silence got to her and she picked up his guitar. Alex was written on every inch of this room. He had lived here, laughed here. They had plotted futures and reconstructed pasts in this very room and it wasn't right that it was empty now.

And the sheriff thought Alex had done this on purpose.

No.

She couldn't accept that. She knew him and she knew the situation and she _knew_ , just knew, that there was something else going on. He wouldn't have killed himself, they could all agree on that, but Liz knew what no one else did, she knew what the future would have been if it was left alone. She knew this couldn't be an accident because somehow or other it came back to what she and Future Max had done so many weeks ago. This time the thought didn't fill her with regret and despair, it filled her with rage.

Someone had done this. That was the only explanation. She had changed the future and that had given someone an opportunity they wouldn't have had otherwise. Someone, or something.

The anger solidified into resolve in her chest. She would figure out what had happened. She didn't know how, she didn't know how long it would take, but she wouldn't stop looking until she found the truth. If only she had anywhere to start, any evidence that would convince the others to help her.

"I really need your help," She found herself speaking out loud, wishing Alex could tell her what she was missing, "I know something's wrong. I know what they're saying about you isn't true, but I don't know where to go from here. I really wish you could give me some advice, point me in a direction."

A book of poetry on his desk caught her eye and she opened it. When she saw the tickets inside she smiled. This was what she needed. Proof.

...

She had gathered them all together, dropped the suicide bombshell and received the expected outrage. But she had not remotely expected Max to take Valenti's side. She felt rage at his doubts and pulled out the concert tickets she'd found, listened as Michael of all people played the diplomat and declared that for everyone in the room Alex's death would always be an accident.

"It wasn't an accident." Liz stated, "He was murdered."

There was a moment as everyone looked at her in shock.

"Murdered?" Kyle was the first to speak.

"Would you listen to yourself," Max was quick to follow, "Who could possibly want to murder Alex?"

"I don't know yet." Liz needed to get them to see the truth, "Maybe somebody with a grudge against him… or maybe an alien."

She could see the anger in Max's face at the suggestion, "That is not what happened here."

"Would you just think about it for a minute? If there is anything that any of us should have learned over the last year and a half, it's that nothing is ever what it seems." Liz argued.

"What is that?" Isabel spoke up, "That's not evidence. That's not proof that we had anything to do with it!"

"You cannot deny the fact that a key member of this conspiracy just died under very suspicious circumstances." Liz's voice went up a notch to match the others'.

"I'm with Liz." Kyle stood up, "There's something not right about this."

"It was a traffic accident." Max was trying to keep his voice calm, "There is nothing otherworldly about that."

"What possible reason would an alien have for wanting to kill Alex?" Michael chimed in.

"Isabel for one." Liz began, "We know that there is an alien named Kivar who wants to take Isabel back to your planet."

"No." Isabel interrupted.

"If Kivar discovered that you and Alex –"

"No, NO" Isabel interrupted again.

Max stepped forward, "You don't know what the hell you're talking about. You don't know anything about Kivar or our world."

"You don't want to think that Alex was killed by an alien because that would mean you are responsible." Liz heard the words come out of her mouth and registered vaguely that she'd crossed a line as silence followed her statement.

Max was looking at her like she was a stranger.

"This is insane." His voice was low now, "I thought you wanted out of the alien drama. Now you're just making some up when there isn't any there?"

"I lied when I said that." Liz knew she'd already lost all of their trust, might as well destroy any faith they had left. "I wasn't leaving because of that. I was leaving because I'm pregnant and I didn't want any of you to know. But I'm not leaving with Alex's murder out there. Even if no one else helps me I am going to find out what happened."

Stunned silence followed her announcement. Then Max asked the question she knew all of them were thinking.

"You're… Whose is it?"

"You don't know him." She voice was flat, business like.

"You expect me to believe that?" His voice was rising again now, "I know everyone you know. Is it Kyle?"

"It's not Kyle," Kyle spoke up quickly, "That was not part of the agreement."

"It's not Kyle," Liz echoed, "It's not anyone that you can hate or hit or be angry at. And it doesn't matter. All that matters now is finding Alex's killer."

"You can't really expect us to buy that." He spun to Maria, "Don't tell me you accept this."

"Sorry Max," Maria's voice was quiet, "I already knew. I wasn't expecting her to blurt it out, especially at a time like this, but I had my freak out a while ago."

Max's expression hardened as his gaze moved back to Liz. "I just… I can't even look at you." He turned to the others, "Let's go."

Isabel and Tess followed him silently but Michael stopped on his way past.

"Congratulations, I guess."

Silence lingered after they left. She turned back to Kyle and Maria, saw the doubt in their faces.

"I know what I know and I am going to find out the truth. I owe that to my friend."

She could do this alone, she thought as she walked out. She'd already prepared herself to raise a child alone. She could find a murderer alone. Whatever it took.

...

 _Why couldn't Liz let it go? Everyone else accepted the accident explanation. But Liz was adamant, and she was persistent. She wasn't going to let this go. Which meant that she had to be watched. Liz couldn't be allowed to find anything. And she certainly couldn't be allowed to share anything she did find with Max._

* * *

 **Well, there you go. Still only slight changes from canon, but don't expect it to stay that way for long. If you enjoyed it, let me know! If you didn't, tell me why! I can't fix problems if I don't know they exist.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm getting uncomfortably close to the end of what I have already written so I might try to write a chunk more before I post what I have left. Otherwise you could be left hanging forever...**

* * *

Liz knew she was getting closer. She had spent two days putting together the whole timeline for Alex's trip to Sweden. She knew that was where the key to this lay. Alex had met Leanna there and Leanna was not Leanna. The Olsons weren't answering their phones but she would track every minute of his trip if she had to.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.

"Come in," Liz called. She barely glanced up as Maria walked into the room.

"Liz, you missed another yearbook meeting," Maria sounded exhausted, "The least you could have done was call."

"Yes, I'm sorry to have to put all that stuff on you right now." Liz didn't even look up from her work and didn't notice the edge to Maria's voice when she replied.

"Stuff?"

"Yeah, but you know what? I am closing in on this Leanna girl." Liz stood up to show Maria what she'd been working on, eager to have a new set of eyes on this. "They went on a cross country tour together. I've got everything mapped out." Liz gestured at the walls of her room which were covered in photos and notes, "But this is where things don't add up. Alex's itinerary says that they were headed to the Baltic Islands and the date on the photo matches the schedule, but there is no building that looks like this is the Baltic Islands. Or in any of the other cities that Alex visited for that matter! I mean, maybe she took him to…" Liz gestured at the endless possibilities, oblivious to Maria's incredulity, "I don't even know where, like to another country or even another planet. Maria – "

"Stop it!" Maria interrupted, "Listen to me, alright? I need my best friend right now because our other best friend just died. And I feel lost and scared and just completely wrecked," Maria was on the verge of hysteria now, "And I know that we're supposed to go to school and to work and finish this yearbook tribute but I just … can't… I don't have a handle on things. I feel like everything is just slipping by me and I don't even know if I'm alive right now. So, _please_ , just stop focussing on this thing that isn't even there and just… be sad with the rest of us. Please."

Liz stared at her friend in silence for a moment. "So you don't believe me either."

"I'm…" Maria sighed, "No, I'm sorry. I guess I don't, Liz."

Maria moved across the room to collect the photos of Alex for the yearbook tribute.

"Leave the Sweden stuff," Liz's voice was hard, "I need it."

Maria spun back to face her, exasperated, "God, you know, you're doing this for Alex but you don't even care whose life you screw up on the way!"

"That's not true."

"Oh, it's not? What about the baby? You know all this stress can't be good for the baby. And I thought you wanted to leave because you didn't think the baby would be safe here? Now you think there's an alien killer in town and you want to stay?"

"The baby will be fine," Maria could practically see the wall that Liz had put up between them, "As long as no one knows that Max is the father then no one will look twice at the offspring of yet another teenager too stupid to use protection."

Maria's reply was resigned; she already knew she wasn't going to win this fight, "But don't you think Max at least deserves to know? Lying to him won't change the fact that he is the father."

"Max wouldn't believe me if I wanted to tell him."

"Liz," Maria spoke calmly, hoping to bring the other girl back to reality, "This is Max. He'll believe _you_. He saw you in bed with Kyle with his own eyes and how many times did he ask you if it really happened? If you tell him he's going to be a dad, then he will believe you."

Liz glanced down at her hands which had automatically come to rest on the small bulge of her stomach, "Maybe that was true once, but not anymore. The way he looked at me today…" Liz seemed to gather herself, "From his perspective it should be a lot easier to believe that Alex was killed by an alien than that I'm pregnant with his baby. And he refuses to even consider that possibility."

"Liz, please – "

"No, Maria." Liz fisted her hands at her sides, "I'm going to find out what happened to Alex if I have to do every bit of it alone. If you aren't going to help, then get out of my way."

Maria had never seen Liz so irrational, so unwavering. "I don't even know you anymore."

Liz remained there, unmoving as Maria marched out of the room and down the stairs. So that was it then. No one believed her. Well, that was their problem. She knew she was right. And she wouldn't stop until she found the person responsible. She moved to the phone to try the Olsons one more time.

...

She'd run out of options. She'd done everything that she could do from her own room in Roswell. She'd tracked down the Olsons; only they weren't the Olsons and they'd never heard of Alex Whitman. She'd followed the flowers sent by them but the florist refused to help her. The embassy people had apparently gotten fed up with talking to her because they weren't responding. All of that brought her here; waiting for a taxi to take her to the only place left where she might find the answers.

She had a moment, sitting on the fence, when she wondered if she was being crazy. She had just emptied her bank account and was about to hop a plane to another continent with no plan for where to go when she got there. She knew it wasn't exactly a rational choice. But she also _knew_ that Alex had been murdered. Everyone else demanded more proof, so she would go find it. Whatever it took.

She froze when Max's jeep swerved across the road to pull up in front of her. _Just what she needed_. Liz steeled herself for his anger.

"Liz, where are you going?" She could already hear the anger bubbling under his usually calm voice.

No point lying. "Sweden" She replied.

"Are you kidding me?" She didn't think she'd ever seen him so agitated, "Get in the car."

"No."

"What did you tell your parents?"

"I'm going to call them from the airport," Liz struggled to keep her voice even, "I'll tell them I changed my mind and went to stay with my Aunt for a bit after all."

"They'll call your aunt," Max shot back, "She'll say you're not there."

"Well, then I'll think of something else." Liz answered.

"What could you possibly say that would make them accept their pregnant daughter disappearing?" Max asked, "And for that matter, I'm sure you shouldn't be travelling in your condition."

"I've still got plenty of time before I have to worry about not being able to fly." Liz replied as the taxi pulled up beside her.

Max moved to block her path, "Liz, don't get in that cab."

Liz just looked at him for a moment then handed her bag to the driver, "Load it up."

Max grabbed a bag from her and swung it into the jeep, "Liz get in my car."

"What are you going to do? Throw me in it?" Liz snaked her arm past him and reclaimed her bag, passing it to the cab driver.

"You have to listen to me." Max was desperate now.

"Don't even pull that 'king' card on me Max," Liz manoeuvred around him to stand beside the taxi, "I'm not Isabel. You can't boss me around."

Max grabbed her arm, stopping her from getting in the car, "If this is about being pissed at me, fine. Punish me all you want. But what about everyone else? What you're doing puts them at risk."

Liz pulled her arm out of his grasp, a look of disappointment on her face, "What I'm doing may save their lives."

"You have a responsibility to Michael, Isabel and Tess not to get in that cab!"

Liz looked him in the eye as she climbed into the car. "Yeah, and I have a responsibility to Alex to find out what really happened."

"Liz," Max had his serious face on now, "If you go our friendship is over."

She blinked at that. But she'd already lost too much to go back now.

"I guess that's the price I have to pay." She reached out and closed the door.

...

Maria woke up to darkness and silence. She glanced at the clock, still an hour before her alarm was meant to go off.

Ugh, had she really said all those things to Liz yesterday? Pregnant, hormonal, crazy Liz? Liz who had already been through more in the past year than anyone deserved in a lifetime? God, she was the worst friend ever. Liz was dealing with this in her own messed up way. It certainly wasn't the most rational or healthy way, but that just made Maria feel worse. Liz needed support, not anger.

Maria glanced at her phone wondering if it was too early to call Liz and noticed the voicemail light flashing.

" _Maria_ " Liz's voice warbled out of the phone, " _I found it. Alex never went to Sweden; the building was demolished in 1994. I'm on my way to see you now and I'll explain the whole thing._ "

Maria checked the time of the call: last night, 9.12pm. She'd probably realised it was late and gone home instead. Maria was sure Liz would find her as soon as she got to school to impart whatever amazing new theory she had. Still, it might be best to stop by Liz's on the way to school, get all apologies out of the way as early as possible. Besides, it wasn't like she was going to be getting any more sleep.

...

Maria yawned as she stepped through the backdoor of the Crashdown and then jumped as she almost walked into Liz's dad.

"Maria!" He exclaimed, "What are you doing here this morning?"

"Oh, hey Mr Parker." Maria answered, "I came to see Liz."

"Oh, well Liz isn't here." He frowned slightly, "I thought she would have told you."

"Really? Where'd she go?" Maria asked.

"She went to Florida yesterday evening to stay with her aunt. Said she needed to get away for a while. You know, she really hasn't been handling what happened very well. Her mother and I weren't too impressed when she called us from the airport, but if this is what she needs to get better, well… I guess we'll do whatever we can."

 _Florida?_ Maria thought, _that doesn't make any sense._

"Oh," She replied, "Um, actually I left my English homework in Liz's room, do you mind if I go up and grab it?"

"Sure, no problem."

Maria slipped past Mr Parker and headed up the stairs, trying not to panic. There were a million and one possible explanations and no reason to think anything was wrong. Maybe Liz really had gone to Florida. Maybe she had gone to see Max or Valenti about what she thought she'd found and had stayed overnight. No need to jump to conclusions because of one cryptic phone message.

Maria stepped into Liz's room. It looked just as it had yesterday, the walls plastered with the last month of Alex's life.

She moved towards the part of the time line that Liz had been ranting about the day before and quickly found the photo she had been obsessing about. Alex and Leanna in front of a squarish building. If this was the building that Liz had mentioned in her message than it had been demolished in 1994, which meant that the photo had been fabricated. And what possible reason would Alex have had to fake photos? And if Alex hadn't gone to Sweden then where was he all those weeks? And where would Liz have gone to find out?

Maria shuffled through the photos and papers on the desk until she found Liz's address book. She flipped to the page for Liz's aunt in Florida. She knew Liz. She knew she wouldn't have gone to Florida at a time like this; but she had to check before she let herself give in to the growing panic.

The phone rang three times before a voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Oh, um, Carol?" Maria spoke quickly, "This is Maria Deluca, Liz's friend?"

"Oh! Hi Maria," Came the reply, "What can I do for you today?"

"Well, um… I...ah… just started thinking about maybe throwing Liz a surprise baby shower sometime," Maria invented on the spot, "and I thought, before I go planning, I should check whether Liz is still planning on going to stay with you at any point."

"That's a lovely idea, Maria," Carol replied, "Liz could do with something to cheer her up. I'm sure you all could. No, with what happened to Alex, Liz decided she wanted to stay closer to home. There's always space for her here of course, but I don't think she'll be taking me up on that any time soon."

"Right," Maria said through the knot in her chest, "Well, um, thanks for that. I'll be sure to let you know about the shower. I have to get to school now though."

"Oh, okay then. Well you take care, Maria."

"Thanks, bye." Maria hung up, staring blankly into space.

Was it okay to panic now? Liz had been digging into Alex's death. She'd found something that someone probably hoped no one would notice. Now she was gone.

Yeah, Maria decided, definitely time to panic.

* * *

 **Now that I think about it, this isn't a great place to be left hanging either. I'll do my best to fix that soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, I failed at updating in a timely fashion. It was bound to happen eventually. But, finally, here is the next chapter to answer a few of your questions.**

* * *

Maria strode through the halls of the school, eyes roving back and forth, scanning for someone useful. Relief surged through her when she spotted Max by his locker. Max always had a plan; he would know what to do.

"Max! Thank god." Maria almost shouted as she stepped in front of him.

"Maria, hey." Max tensed visibly.

"Max, I am freaking out right now." Maria managed to lower her voice this time, "Liz is missing. Her parents think she went to Florida but she didn't. She's just gone."

"Yeah, she went to Sweden." Max replied with a sigh.

"Sweden?" Maria asked in confusion, "What?"

"I saw her on her way to the airport yesterday. I tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen. She's gone to Sweden." Max was acting like this didn't concern him.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Maria said, "What time did you see her?"

"I don't know," Max replied, "Six something? Seven?"

"Max, we have to -"

"No," he interrupted, "We don't have to do anything. I made it clear that if she went to Sweden she was on her own."

"But -" Maria tried again.

"Enough!" Max slammed his locker, "I've spent enough time chasing after Liz Parker. If she wants to hunt dead ends and imagined leads on the other side of the world I'm not going to stop her."

He turned and started away.

"Max!" Maria yelled after him, but he didn't pause or look back.

Maria slammed the side of her fist against the lockers in frustration. Is this how Liz had felt yesterday? Knowing something was wrong and not being able to convince anyone? Well Liz hadn't given up. She'd kept digging, looking for help anywhere she could get it. Maria would do the same.

Because Liz wouldn't have gone to Sweden either, not when she realized that Alex hadn't been there. So if Maria wanted to figure out where Liz might have gone she needed to find out where Alex had been. Maybe someone could trace where his emails had been sent from.

...

Maria had convinced the head of the IT club, Derek, to trace the location Alex had sent his emails from. She had left him working in the computer lab when it occurred to her that it was possible Liz had started the trip to Sweden before she realised there wasn't anything there. She'd have had to take a few flights to get there. Maybe she got stuck in Albequerque or New York, waiting for a flight back to Roswell.

Maria pulled out her cellphone and dialled directory assistance, then waited as they connected her to the Roswell airport.

"Oh, hi!" She started when a voice answered, "I'm doing a school project on the transit industry. I was wondering if you could tell me what flights left yesterday evening."

"Sure, I can help you with that." Came the reply, "What is it you needed to know?"

"Um, maybe if you could just start with the last flight of the night? Where was that going and what time did it leave?"

"So," Maria heard keys tapping in the background, "That was the flight to Albuquerque, scheduled for 8.50pm"

"And did it leave right when it was scheduled?" Maria asked.

"No, that one was delayed several minutes. The plane left the tarmac at 9.04pm."

"So, um, why was it delayed? What sort of problems most frequently stop flights leaving on time?" Maria blustered as she considered what questions might get the answers she was looking for.

"Well, there are several common reasons for a flight to leave late. In this case it was due to a passenger changing their mind at the last minute. She refused to get on the plane and we had to pull her bags off before the flight could leave."

 _Liz_ , Maria thought. She was sure of it. She felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. She vaguely heard herself saying thank you and making some excuse to cut the call short.

Liz hadn't left Roswell. She hadn't gone to Sweden or Florida. She had found the flaw in the cover up of Alex's murder and was on her way to tell Maria about it. And she had vanished.

There were options and possibilities for what might have happened, but Maria knew there was only one that made sense.

Whoever had killed Alex had taken Liz.

The idea terrified her. Whoever this was had already killed at least once; there wasn't any reason to hope that they wouldn't kill Liz too. They could have already… Maria shut down that thought. This person had also made Alex vanish for months without anyone even realising he was gone. That meant they were definitely capable of holding Liz somewhere alive.

A hand landed on her shoulder and Maria jumped what felt like a metre and spun around.

"Woah," Derek raised his hands, "Didn't mean to scare you." He held out a piece of paper, "I found the source of that email."

Maria reached out and snatched the paper from his hand. She had to read it three times before she registered what it said.

"Las Cruces" She murmured. A place to start.

...

Max was three steps out of his biology classroom when his arm was seized in an iron grip and he was dragged unceremoniously into a nearby empty classroom.

"Maria, what-" He began as she locked the door, but she spun on him before he could continue.

"You jerk." She stepped towards him and he felt the odd urge to retreat. "You complete and utter ass. You self-centred, short-sighted, piece of crap. This is _your_ fault."

"Maria, what -" He repeated but didn't get any further.

"Liz is gone." Maria spat, "Not 'chasing ghosts to Sweden' gone. Not 'ran away to Florida' gone. _Taken_."

Max rolled his eyes, "If this is -"

"No," Maria interrupted him again, "You don't get to speak because this is all your fault. If you had just listened to her, if you'd just given her a chance then she wouldn't have been trying to do everything alone.

"So you are bloody well going to listen to me."

She shoved him back into a desk, staring at him as if daring him to say a single word. Instead he put his hands up and sat back against the desk. Better to just let her get this over with.

"Good." The anger was fading from her face now, but the emotion replacing it was more concerning; fear. "Liz didn't go to Sweden. She almost did but at the last minute she made the airline pull her bags off the plane. She never left Roswell. After the plane took off without her, she left a message on my phone saying that she was coming to see me, but she never did." Maria's voice was shaking now and with each warbled word Max felt like a line of ice was moving slowly down his spine.

"Liz had been obsessing over this photo she'd found of Alex and Leanna in front of a building," Maria continued, "She hadn't been able to find the building, but her message said that the building was demolished in 1994. So that photo was faked, which means all of the photos were faked and Alex never went to Sweden."

Max started to feel sick. He watched Maria pace back and forth in front of him, wringing her hands. He didn't want to believe this. There had to be another explanation.

"Okay, I get why you're concerned," He kept his voice calm, trying to ignore the dread settling into his stomach, "It does sound like Liz didn't go to Sweden, but that doesn't mean we should jump to conclusions. One voicemail about one building doesn't mean something is wrong. Maybe she realised how crazy she was being and didn't want to have to face people and say she was wrong. Maybe she left for some reason completely unrelated to Alex. There are so many possibilities here that don't require a panic attack."

Maria shook her head at him, her voice tired, "You still think you can just ignore this and it will go away don't you? Sure, there are possibilities that don't require panic, but there is one possibility that absolutely requires panic. Are you really willing to bet Liz's life on the theory that maybe it's unrelated? Like anything has been unrelated recently!"

"It's not like she doesn't have other things going on!" Max interrupted, "Maybe she left because of the baby. Maybe she went to talk to the father or he came to find her."

Maria just raised an eyebrow at that suggestion, scorn dripping from her voice, "I can personally guarantee that Liz's baby daddy has nothing to do with this. There are only two people in the universe who know who he is and Liz has made it very clear she does not want him to be added to the list. But hey, why trust my word or my instincts on this? Why trust Liz's instincts either? You need solid evidence? Here," She pulled a sheet of paper from her bag and thrust it at him. "I had the emails Alex sent while he was meant to be in Sweden traced back to their origin. He never even left New Mexico. They were sent from the university in Las Cruces."

Max felt like his whole body had frozen. He couldn't even begin to process this. Liz had been right. He hadn't wanted it to be possible. He'd wanted it to be impossible so much that he'd forced all the others to choose sides. He'd called Liz crazy, told her their friendship was over. And now… Maria's words echoed in his heart, _Liz is missing_. Max raised his eyes to Maria's and found her watching him, her expression full of disappointment and anger. He couldn't blame her. The guilt was already consuming him.

"Maria," He began, reaching out towards her.

"No!" She slapped his hand away as tears spilled from her eyes, "This is _your_ fault. My best friend is missing because of you. If you had just listened." She was practically sobbing now, "If _I_ had just listened… This is all my fault."

"Maria," Max placed his hands gently on her shoulders, "I'm so sorry. This is my fault. I failed Liz, I failed Alex. I failed all of you. But I swear to you; I will make this right. We are going to find her."

Maria wiped blindly at her face and nodded, "Where do we start?" She asked.

"If we find Alex's killer then we find Liz. I need you to keep following that trail. Go to Las Cruces and find out what was going on there. Take Michael with you and be careful. I'll start the search party here. I'll talk to Valenti about tracking where Liz was seen last, maybe we should even report her missing."

Maria nodded again and took a deep breath, "Okay, good."

She turned to the door then paused and turned back.

"Max," There was a hint of desperation in her voice, "Do you still love her?"

He looked at her, recognized the despair and fear in her eyes, and admitted what he'd been trying to hide from himself for so many months.

"More than anything in the universe." He confessed.

Maria nodded, "Me too. We're not going to let her down this time."

She left the room then, off to find Michael and then a murderer. Her promise lingered in the room with him.

"We're not going to let you down this time." He echoed.

...

There was something digging into Liz's back. She shifted to ease the pressure and immediately came awake with a gasp as the motion shot pain up her shoulder. She couldn't move her arms, something solid was holding them pinned behind her back. She blinked at her surroundings in confusion, taking in rock walls and some kind of strange light source somewhere behind her. The last thing she remembered she was in a taxi on the way back from the airport. How had she gotten here? And where was here?

"Finally, you're awake. Thought you might sleep all day."

Liz turned her head and spotted the petite blonde leaning against a nearby rock.

"Tess?" Liz asked, "What… What's going on?"

"Here, I brought you a smoothie." Tess thrust a cup with a straw in front of her face, "Better drink it all because that's all you're getting until after school."

Liz pulled on her arms gently. She couldn't move them much at all. It felt like her hands and forearms were encased in stone, which, she realised, Tess would be completely capable of doing.

"Tess, what's going on?" Liz asked again, "Why would you want to do this?"

"I want to go home, Liz." Tess stated, "Is that really too much to ask? I have a place there, a purpose. I was a Queen. I just want to go home. Now drink up, can't go depriving that foetus of food now."

"But, I'm not stopping you going home. You want to leave go ahead. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you never came back."

"Drink." Tess shook the cup again, "I'll make you a deal; I'll explain why you're going to be leaving this planet with me if you drink."

Liz stared at Tess, a million possible explanations running through her head, each more unlikely than the last. She twisted her arms again but they weren't going anywhere. She couldn't see any other options so she leaned forward and took the straw into her mouth. The smoothie tasted like it's purpose wasn't to taste good, just to provide as much fuel as possible in a single cup.

"The problem, Liz, isn't getting off of Earth," Tess began, "I've got a way off earth right behind you. But if I want to live safely on Antar when I get there then I need to have something to trade, something Kivar will want. It's actually a deal Nasedo made decades ago. He wanted to go home too so he came up with a plan, offered Kivar a bargain. The Royal Four, plus an heir. The plan was simple, seduce Max and, once I got pregnant, lure him and the others off of the planet. But Nasedo hadn't prepared for you.

"It was hard seeing you with him. I did everything I could to come between you but nothing worked. I had pretty much given up, actually. Thought I'd just call it quits and leave town. But then you slept with Kyle and everything changed.

"It still took time to get close to him, to get him to see me that way, but I'm pretty sure I only needed a few more days to get him where I wanted him. Then once I was sure I was pregnant I'd have convinced him we had to go home to have the baby. At which point I would conveniently produce the instructions and key for the Granolith. But you just had to mess up that plan too."

Liz stopped drinking as a sudden thought swept through her. She stared at Tess, barely able to voice the question.

"Did you… Did you kill Alex?" Her voice came out a whisper.

Tess stepped back, her hand going to her head. "It was an _accident_." She exclaimed, "It wasn't supposed to go like that. Something went wrong. He started to remember translating the book… He was just meant to forget. It wasn't meant to kill him."

She stopped and took a deep breath, then seemed to notice the half empty cup in her hand. She moved back towards Liz and held the straw in front of her face again. Liz felt sick hearing this confession, but she knew that she couldn't count on getting any other food today. And if she was going to escape she'd need whatever energy that smoothie could give her. She leaned forward to drink the rest as Tess continued.

"And once again it was Elizabeth Parker who ruined everything. Everybody else took the accident at face value but you just couldn't let that be. I worried that you might actually find something that would convince the others you were right so I snuck onto your balcony when Maria came by to see you. I figured you'd tell her what your theories were. Turns out I didn't have any reason to worry about you finding a hole in my cover up. One photo of a building? You sounded crazy telling Maria about it. I knew then that you would just drive everybody away. I almost left then. But I stuck around to hear how the conversation ended and that's when I heard it.

"See, Liz," Tess knelt down in front of her to be at eye level, "The deal with Kivar is for Max's heir. His first born. So even if I got pregnant with Max's child tomorrow it would be worthless because that mongrel growing in your uterus comes first. It's Old Antarian Law, the kind even Kivar can't ignore. Bastards have just as much claim as legitimate children, which unfortunately would include yours."

Liz's heart was racing now. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid, talking openly with Maria about Max being the father. And now Tess was planning on dragging her to another galaxy in order to hand her baby over to genocidal aliens. She needed to get out of here.

"So," Tess threw the empty cup into the corner, "I have to change the plan once again. Haven't worked out the details yet but don't worry, nothing is going to stop me from getting off this planet and dragging you with me. All I have to do is convince Max and the others that we all have to leave earth for some reason. Then when we come out here to board the Granolith I'll keep you hidden under a mind warp until we're off this dump of a planet. And I will finally be able to go home."

Tess moved towards the wall in front of Liz. "Anyway, I've got to get back to school." She waved her hand in front of part of the wall and a silver hand print appeared. When she pressed it the rock wall behind her slid open "Not sure what time I'll get back but it's not like you'll know the time anyway."

With that Tess marched out and the wall slid shut behind her.

Liz felt like throwing up. She couldn't believe it. She'd known that something more than an accident had happened to Alex but she'd never imagined it was one of their own. She'd never considered that Tess could be capable of something like this.

She struggled against the bonds around her hands. She rubbed her wrists raw trying to get leverage in any direction. Eventually she collapsed against the wall she was attached to and gave in to the tears.

* * *

 **So, I'm hopeful that I've gotten past the tricky bits and will be able to write the rest up relatively quickly, but to keep myself in line I've decided that if I get a dozen reviews then I have to post an update within 3 days. And now I've made that promise in writing so I'm stuck with it. So if you want faster updates then you can force my hand by reviewing.**


	6. Chapter 6

**So, this is actually the chapter that was giving me such trouble when I failed to update for so long. I was having difficulty getting people where they needed to be. As a result, this is a short chapter and is pretty much just a means to an end, trying to get things lined up for the next chapters to work. On the plus side, while I was fighting with this chapter I wrote a whole bunch of emotional exploration type stuff for the next chapter, so you'll get another update soon that is pretty much the opposite of just the necessary series of events.**

* * *

Isabel was walking towards the exit of the school with Tess when she spotted Max heading towards them. She'd been avoiding and ignoring him since he shut down her chances of getting out of this place for college. He could threaten her and blackmail her to make her stay but there wasn't anything he could do to make her respect him again. When he stepped in front of her and said her name she moved around him as if there was nothing there, ignoring the tension in his voice and the sycophantic way that Tess greeted him. When he grabbed her arm she stopped, but refused to turn to face him or acknowledge him in any way.

"Isabel, I need your help." His voice was low and anxious but she didn't react. He gave an exasperated sigh and released her arm, but kept pace with her as she walked out of the school. "I know you're still angry but this is bigger than you and me. Please, it's about Liz."

Isabel huffed out a breath, refusing to respond despite the exasperated voice yelling in her head that it was _always_ about Liz Parker. She was certain that there was nothing he could say to make her listen or help, but his next words made her freeze.

"It's about Alex."

Isabel slowly turned back to face him, still not speaking, but giving him a chance to explain.

"Liz was right." Max revealed.

"What?" Tess burst out in shock.

"Alex was murdered. He never went to Sweden. He was in Las Cruces the whole time."

Isabel felt like fire was running down her spine. _Alex was murdered_. How could this be real? Had she killed him just by being friends with him? Who could possibly want to kill Alex? And why would he have lied about Sweden? She dragged herself back to the present, struggling to take in what Max was saying.

"Liz figured out that Alex never went to Sweden. She found this picture of him in front of a building that was torn down in 1994. And now she's gone." Isabel felt her own heart spike as she registered the fear and guilt in Max's voice. "Liz is missing."

Isabel took a step back and ran her fingers through her hair. She couldn't believe this was happening. Yesterday it had been all about putting Alex's _accidental_ death behind them. Now Liz could be dead too.

 _No_ , she thought. They couldn't lose another friend. She wouldn't let that happen. She'd missed whatever happened to Alex. She couldn't save him, but they would find a way to save Liz. They had to.

"What do we do?" She asked Max.

...

Maria was frustrated. She and Michael had arrived at the university a couple of hours ago and had gone straight to the room that Alex had stayed in. They hadn't found anything there, though they had run into a neighbour who had given them the lead that Alex was working on some kind of super-computer. But all of the people who had access to that computer had gone home for the day, which meant they had an entire night to get through with no way of helping Liz.

She felt tears sting her eyes at the thought of Liz. She'd been avoiding thinking about her as much as she could because she needed to stay focussed on the task, Liz's life depended on it. But now that they'd run out of moves she couldn't keep her best friend out of her head. Where was she now? Was she okay? Maria had gotten all the way to Las Cruces since Liz vanished. How much farther could someone have taken Liz?

Michael took her hand as they walked through the campus.

"We'll find her," He promised, "And we'll find Alex's killer. And then we'll make them regret ever setting foot in Roswell."

Maria nodded and sniffed back the tears when her phone started ringing.

She took a breath to steady her voice before answering.

"Hello?" She said.

"Maria," Max's voice came through the speaker, "Liz's parents have just reported Liz missing. You need to be prepared for the police to call you. They'll be able to get her phone records so they'll know she called you last night."

Maria took another breath, holding onto Michael's arm like it was a life line.

"Her parents know?" She asked, realising as she spoke what a stupid question it was, "I mean, how are… Does this make it harder for us?"

"Valenti still has sources in the Sheriff's department so he's staying on top of things there. Her parents called it in half an hour ago after talking to her aunt in Florida. So far, it seems like they're looking at the possibility that Liz went looking for the father of her baby, or that he found her."

"Oh," Maria whispered, "That's not going to get them very far."

"Maria," Max was tentative, "I'm not suggesting they're right, but I feel like I have to check every possible option. Is there any chance this could have something to do with the father?"

"No," Maria was certain about that one, "I told you already, there are only two people who know who he is, and Liz made it very clear that she wanted to keep it that way. Even he doesn't know."

"Wait, you know who…" Max sighed, "Never mind. Not the issue now. If you say it doesn't have anything to do with this than I believe you. And they'll probably figure out that she bought a plane ticket to Sweden pretty quickly so that might steer them down a new path. Have you made any progress on your end?"

"Well, we found out that Alex spent all of his time in his room and never talked to anyone, but he was seen coming out of a building that has some fancy super-computer in it. I've made an appointment with someone who can track what he was working on, but that's not until tomorrow and we are out of leads until then. How's the hunt going at home?"

"The sheriff and I have been trying to track her last moves all day. We managed to track down the taxi she got from the airport, but when we talked to the driver he didn't remember her at all. His records don't even show where she got dropped off. We've got nothing.

"Isabel has been trying to dream walk Liz all day, with Tess's help, but they haven't had any luck. Tess suggested maybe Liz was awake and they should try again when she would be more likely to be asleep, so they'll be staying up late tonight and hopefully they'll be able to pick up on something.

"Maybe the police will be able to find something, but if they realise we've been looking for her already that could make things more difficult for us. So you need to be careful when you talk to them. I'm sure they'll call you tomorrow sometime."

"Right," Maria replied, "And until then try not to freak out about my best friend lying dead in a ditch somewhere."

Max paused, "Liz is still alive, Maria, I'm sure of it. Maybe we won't find her tonight, but we will find her. Until then, stay safe. We're digging into something dangerous enough for someone to kill for. Look after each other."

"Ugh," Maria groaned after Max hung up, "I hate waiting. I hate knowing she's out there, probably scared, maybe in pain, and I can't think of any way to help her. I'm never going to sleep tonight."

"Me too," Michael took her hand again, "Maybe what we need is a distraction. Sounds like there's some kind of concert going on over there. If we're not going to sleep then maybe we should dance."

Maria smiled at her boyfriend. He was right. She needed to clear her head, get some of this fear and anxiety out. Sleep would probably be the best option, but dancing would work too.

...

Isabel woke up to see her light still on by her bed. She shifted slightly and saw Tess sleeping soundly next to her. They'd spent hours during the day trying to reach Liz through a dream-walk and had tried again around midnight but nothing had worked.

It was so strange though. It didn't feel like the other times that she'd tried dream-walking and failed. It wasn't like when Max was in New York and he'd felt out of reach, or when Laurie Dupree kept hijacking her dreams. It felt like it was working but all she saw was white and all she heard was static. And no matter what they did or how much power Tess tried to lend her it never changed.

Isabel sighed and dejectedly reached for the photo she'd been using all day. Might as well try once more, for all the good it would do.

She touched her finger to Liz's face in the photo and was shocked when the sinking sensation she was so used to was followed immediately by an image of Liz. She was running through dark hallways and twisted tunnels, glancing back over her shoulder regularly. Isabel watched as Liz's belly grew large, slowing her down and before shrinking again as blood ran down her thighs. And always Liz kept running.

"Liz!" Isabel shouted, jumping in front of the dreaming girl and grabbing her. "Liz it's a dream, you're dreaming."

Liz struggled for a moment, glancing behind her in fear, before focussing back on Isabel.

"Isabel?" Liz's voice quavered, "Are you real?"

"Yes," Isabel answered, "I'm here. I've been trying to dream-walk you all day but something was blocking me. Do you know where you are? Can you tell me who took you?"

Liz seemed to become more present with each word and the fear that was consuming her was replaced by anger.

"Tess," Liz spat, "Tess killed Alex and she kidnapped me. I'm at the pod-chamber. Stuck in the rock somehow. I can barely move and I already had to pee myself twice. Tess is the one who did this."

Shock speared through Isabel, driving her straight out of Liz's dream and back into her own bed where she woke with a gasp.

"Isabel," Tess stirred beside her, "Are you okay?"

"You!" Isabel could barely muster a whisper around the horror and anger consuming her, "How could you do this?"

* * *

 **As usual, reviews make me update faster, though I suppose I've already promised to update pretty quickly this time.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Confession: It's a little bit fun to leave you guys in suspense. Plus I get more reviews. But I have written ahead enough to feel comfortable promising regular updates from here on out.**

 **Content warning: This chapter sticks with Liz, who has, of course, been kidnapped and locked in a cave in the middle of the desert all day. Her thoughts are not the most cheerful.**

 **Syntax warning: I started overthinking tenses and managed to confuse myself. If anything seems unclear or incorrect to you let me know so I can fix it.**

* * *

Liz woke up to darkness.

Not that there was a whole lot of light in this place at the best of times.

Her neck was killing her. She'd finally managed to drift off with her head flopped forward onto her chest. It was definitely not a position she ever wanted to sleep in again.

But she wouldn't have to. She smiled to herself, tears of relief pricking at her eyes. Isabel had managed to reach her while she slept. Help was on its way.

...

Liz had spent the previous day trying everything she could think of to reach someone. She remembered Ava's words about her being 'different' and she latched onto the idea that she might be able to reach out with her mind, warn Max somehow, or Isabel who was the one with mind reading related powers. But if anything she tried had any effect she couldn't tell. It mostly felt as useless as shouting, though she tried that too.

Tess had left her a large water container, one of those squishy camping ones that fit in a backpack and had a straw, but she hadn't left any food. And she hadn't come back after school either.

Liz tried ignoring the hunger, but then it had gone past hunger into actual pain. She drank all of the water hoping to trick her stomach into feeling full. It helped a little. Until an hour later, when she needed to pee. She held on as long as she could, but the human body wasn't meant to work that way.

She cried when she finally gave in and released her bladder all over herself. Then she had to sit in that initially hot but quickly cold puddle.

Liz had never felt so powerless in her entire life. She tried to imagine walking out of here. She thought about what she would eat and drink. She thought about the joys of toilet paper and soap. She thought about music and books and pillows. She thought a lot about pillows actually.

She thought about Max.

She thought about Future Max and the child they'd inadvertently created in their moment of grief for a future that would never be. A future that she now knew was safer, happier, better than the one she'd found herself in.

She had thought about _her_ Max, the one she'd actually wanted to lose her virginity to, the one who hated her now for cheating on him and accusing him of getting Alex killed.

But it wasn't his fault Alex was dead. It was hers.

She still hadn't told anyone that. Even Maria, who knew all of the facts, didn't know that Alex had been alive at 19 in the alternate future that they would never see. She thought that she should feel relieved that no one would know that Alex's death was her fault, but instead she felt guilty. She'd caused all of this, had torn their lives apart. They deserved to know that. They deserved to know who was really to blame.

Liz had drifted for a while, focussing on the physical pain of hunger rather than the turmoil her own thoughts created.

But whose fault was it, really? Her actions had caused this, but she'd been trusting Max, and not just Max but an older future version who had infinitely more knowledge than she did. Of course she'd trusted him.

And he'd trusted himself and the people around him who thought they understood time travel. She scoffed at that, hadn't people seen enough time travel movies to know how wrong everything could go? What had possessed them to think they had any idea what they were doing? And he'd trusted Tess, a girl he'd known for a matter of months 14 years before he jumped in the Granolith and came back to see her. If he'd really seen so many battles how could he still be so trusting, so naïve? He'd rested his entire plan on a person he barely knew. It was his fault more than it was hers.

But the problem with blaming Future Max and his Future Friends, Liz had realised after writing several angry mental letters to each of them, was that they didn't exist. The Max that did exist hadn't made any mistakes, had no part in Alex's death, and didn't deserve to be blamed for something he hadn't done. She'd already decided that when she realised that she was pregnant. Max wasn't responsible, so regardless of genetics, he shouldn't be thrust into this mess.

Didn't seem like he'd get a choice now. Tess wanted to take all of them to Antar. He'd almost certainly hear that he was the father then. Whether he'd believe it would be a different question, though. And whether she could keep the more dangerous powers of the Granolith a secret from Kivar and his allies when Max asked the dreaded question of _how_ was an even bigger concern.

She didn't want to think about that.

Think about something else.

Something better.

Something good.

Was there anything good left to think about?

She'd thought that the baby was a good thing, after a minor panic attack. She'd thought it was an amazing, magical gift. A fraction of the future she'd never get to have. Granted, she'd known it was the hardest fraction, but she'd believed it would be the most rewarding too.

She hadn't considered that they'd end up prisoners on another planet before the baby was even born.

She wished she could kill it.

She wondered if she should feel guilty about that. She'd only considered abortion very briefly when she realised she was pregnant. She was a rational person and considering all options was important. But she'd found herself thinking about the challenge of a child as something beautiful, so she'd chosen quickly to keep it.

She found herself regretting that as she lay there, completely helpless, drenched in her own urine, destined for slavery and death in another solar system.

Her child would be brought up a slave. Wouldn't it be better never to have lived at all?

Though, it had occurred to her, that might still happen anyway. Tess hadn't reappeared since her first vicious reveal of her plans. Liz had wondered how long a foetus could survive in a malnourished mother. Maybe that was Tess's real plan; if Liz's child died then that would leave room for a new heir. What if Tess just intended to leave Liz here to starve to death and carry out her original plan? What if she was seducing Max right now?

She'd cried some more then.

But maybe it wasn't over yet. She rallied her spirits. People would know she was missing soon, and no matter what they'd said to each other in anger yesterday Liz trusted that Max would drop everything if he thought something was actually wrong. And none of the others would just give up on her either. Since Tess still didn't have a plan to get them off of this planet then there was still time for someone to find her. She could still have the life she'd imagined, staying with her aunt until she gave birth, maybe finishing high school by correspondence, or getting some kind of job. Raising this little creature she was building. Teaching it and learning from it. Perhaps someday even coming home.

Was that really what she wanted? She pondered. To run away? To never tell her child about its father? A father that she loved so completely?

What if she just _told_ Max? Would he ever forgive her? Would any of them forgive her for inflicting Tess on their lives? Would Max be able to look at her again, knowing what she'd done? Was it cruel to stay, parading around with a child that was and wasn't his?

Endlessly the tumult of thoughts had plagued her, until finally, her chin had dropped down onto her chest and she'd fallen asleep.

...

After she'd woken from her dream conversation with Isabel, Liz had found herself counting. She wasn't even aware that she was doing it consciously, but she would find herself counting up into the hundreds. And then she would realise that she'd lost count and would automatically start again. A few times she tried to calculate how long it had been based on her inaccurate counting. Long enough to drive here from Roswell? No. Probably not. Probably a little longer. And the counting would go on.

But eventually she had to admit that the answer to that question had to be yes; probably time enough to make a round trip twice. And Isabel hadn't come.

She was starting to wonder if it had really just been a normal dream, her subconscious reaching for salvation, when she heard the crunching sound of the door sliding open.

Her heart started pounding in her throat as she watched the sliver of light grow into a doorway and through the door… Tess.

"Morning, Liz!" Tess spoke up brightly then frowned at the sight of her, "Wow, you are disgusting."

Tess waved her hand and the mess Liz had been forced to sit in all day vanished in a blink.

"I suppose I probably should have come back last night, but I was a little busy making sure Isabel didn't get into your mind." Tess stepped forward to replace Liz's water and offer her another smoothie.

"Unfortunately, I fell asleep on the job and missed one of her attempts, as you're probably aware. Were you expecting her to walk through the door this morning?" Liz rolled her eyes at Tess's cheerful tone as she guzzled down the smoothie. "Well, Isabel did have a moment last night when she was most upset with me, but now she's back to being my best friend. It was only a little bit harder than making humans forget."

Tess leaned closer.

"And," She whispered conspiratorially, "Your little stunt gave me an idea. It's prefect. I already have an excuse to leave this planet right in front of me. So don't get comfortable because in 48 hours we'll be on our way to Antar."


	8. Chapter 8

**Weren't expecting another update so soon, were you? I've promised prompt updates so many times before and failed that I doubt many people trust me anymore. But I really mean it this time. So here's the next chapter for you.**

* * *

Liz didn't know exactly how long she sat there crying after Tess had left, but after a little while she got angry again.

"Come on, Parker," She spoke out loud to the empty chamber, "You are a smart, capable woman. You are not some damsel in distress that needs rescuing. So what if nobody is coming to save you? You can solve your own problems and you can get yourself out of this."

She managed to shift her knees underneath her, angling slightly to the left into a position that let her right hand move a fraction of an inch. She pushed upwards until it hurt, but she didn't stop. If she didn't get out of here then she was looking at a best case scenario of a lifetime of slavery. More likely she would just be killed as soon as her baby was born. She took a deep breath, focussed on the tiny fluttering of her child moving inside her and wrenched herself upwards. A scream tore out of her as something in her wrist cracked and pain seared through her arm.

She held still as the pain throbbed through her. She had broken something in her wrist. She didn't need to see it to know that. Liz slowly lowered herself back to the ground, tiny gasps of agony hissing through her clenched teeth as the bone in her wrist shifted slightly. She'd snapped her own wrist and still the restraints holding her hadn't eased even a millimetre.

"Well, Liz," Her voice trembled, "You are still a smart, capable woman. But that doesn't mean you can get yourself out of this."

...

Max trudged into school feeling like his body was full of concrete. He wasn't even sure why he was here, except that Valenti had insisted that they would draw less attention if they kept to their regular patterns. Plus, he sort of didn't have anywhere else to go.

He'd barely slept the night before. His mind kept turning over every bit of information they had, desperate to find something he'd missed. Then he'd found himself thinking about Liz and what he would say to her when they found her. He'd tell her he loved her. He'd tell her he forgave her. He'd beg her to forgive him.

When he had slept she'd followed him into his dreams and nightmares of Liz bloody and not breathing chased him from sleep before dawn.

His first classes passed in a blur. He didn't even realise it was lunch time until he saw Tess coming towards him.

"Hey, Max," Tess reached out to him in concern, "How are you holding up?"

Max sighed, "I've run out of ideas, Tess. I don't know what to do."

"Well," Tess smiled, "I think I can help with that. I thought maybe after school you and Isabel and I could try dream-walking Liz again. Isabel said it felt like someone was blocking her, so maybe, if we all work together, we'll be able to punch through their block."

Max perked up at the suggestion, at any suggestion.

"Yeah," He fought for enthusiasm, "That's a great idea. Why don't we skip the rest of school and try now?"

Tess frowned, "Well, we are meant to be keeping a low profile so no one notices we've been searching for Liz or asks where Michael and Maria are. Since they're still our best lead we definitely want to keep the police off of their backs while they search for Leanna, right?"

"Right," Max sighed. He'd already heard that the sheriff wanted to bring them in for questioning. Valenti had managed to talk him out of it for now, arguing that they would be worried enough about their friend without interrogating them, he didn't want to undermine the work Valenti had put in. "After school then."

…

The rest of the day passed much as the morning had. Max was pulled out of class in the afternoon to be questioned by a deputy, but they didn't seem to find anything of interest in his answers and he walked out in five minutes to be replaced by another student who Max recognised as another part-time waiter at the Crashdown.

When the last bell finally rang he rushed out the door, grabbing Tess as she left her last class and dragging Isabel away from her locker before she could open it. They'd waited long enough. He needed to be doing something useful right now.

…

Max and Isabel led Tess upstairs to Isabel's room where they wouldn't be disturbed if their parents came home early. Isabel grabbed the photo of Liz that had lived on her bedside table for the last two days while the others settled on her bed.

Isabel turned to join them. They automatically settled into a triangle facing each other

Taking a deep breath, Isabel reached out to touch the photo and sink into Liz's mind.

Like every other time she was met with blank white static, but she could feel Max and Tess beside her, focussing their power on hers so she kept reaching, pushing with her mind, trying to get through.

A flash of an image burst across her vision and then vanished.

"Almost," She gasped out loud and felt Max's energy focus further.

Images started flickering across her mind. She saw Liz, somewhere dark, restrained with something, crying.

Isabel tried calling out to her and saw the brunette look up at her.

"Isabel," Liz's voice came across as a whisper, distorted, while the image flickered in and out.

"Liz!" Isabel called again, "Are you okay? Where are you?"

Isabel could see Liz's mouth move in a response but she only heard a few words as the sound flickered in and out. She thought she heard 'late' and 'sorry'. Her blood ran cold when the word 'Kivar' came through loud and clear.

"Liz?" Isabel tried again, "I can't hear you. Where are you? We're coming."

Liz shook her head sadly and Isabel focussed on hearing her as she tried again.

"…too late, Isabel," More of Liz's words were making it through this time, but she still flickered in and out. But there were enough words this time to put together the horrifying story.

"I'm not –" Liz's voice faded briefly again, "– left earth already. Kivar –" The white static consumed everything for a moment here, but Isabel redoubled her efforts in time to catch the end. "– tell… sorry. I love all… so much."

Isabel could see that Liz was crying openly now. She tried to reach for the other girl, but the connection cut off abruptly and she found herself back on her bed, tears pouring down her face as she gripped the hands of Max and Tess sitting across from her.

"Liz?" She heard her own voice gasp. She felt Max's hand grip hers more tightly.

"Isabel?" His voice was full of trepidation, "Did you see her? Did you get through?"

"I –" She bit back a sob, bracing herself to break the news to Max.

"She said it was too late." Isabel whispered, "She mentioned Kivar and she said… She said that she's not on Earth anymore."

Isabel could practically see Max's soul shatter at this news. He sat completely frozen for a full minute while she and Tess watched him, not knowing what to say.

Max moved abruptly, pulling away from their grips and stumbling out of the room.

Isabel quickly rose and followed him, watching through the tears in her own eyes as he made his way unsteadily down the hall, veering suddenly off course at the sound of their parents talking ahead of them. The new path took them to the back door and they ended up outside, where Max stopped, staring up at the darkening sky.

Isabel still had no words to offer so she simply reached out, placing first her hand and then her forehead on Max's shoulder. She could feel shudders moving through his body. She wasn't sure how long they stood there before a voice spoke hesitantly behind them.

"Maybe…" Tess hesitated, "Maybe we can still find her?"

Isabel turned to face her and felt Max make a similar move beside her, desperation and despair coursing through them both.

"I mean," Tess stepped forward, "If Kivar took her, then we know where they're going, right? And we know that kind of travel is _possible_ so if we could just figure out…" She trailed off with a hopeless tone.

It was a nice thought, Isabel knew, but where could they even start trying to find a way to Antar? Could they contact Larek again? Break into FBI files to try and find the ship that crashed here half a century ago? How long would any of those options take? How long did Liz have before they killed her?

And why, it occurred to her, had Kivar taken _Liz_ at all? If he'd made it all the way to earth wouldn't he go straight for Max? Or was this some kind of trap? Maybe someone was counting on them finding their way across the galaxy in a desperate attempt to save Liz.

"Maybe that's what he wants." She voiced this possibility to Max, watching as his eyes hardened from fear and despair to determination. "Maybe Kivar took Liz so that he could draw us out. Why else would he come all the way here and then leave without any of us?"

She already knew Max's answer before he spoke, but a part of her hoped to be wrong.

"I don't care," Max said, "Liz has risked her life for ours more times than I can count. She's given up so much to protect us and she's never let us down. I don't care if it's a trap. If there is a way to get to her then I'm going."

Isabel nodded, resigned.

"I don't want to leave you alone," Max continued, "But it's my fault Liz was taken in the first place; if I'd just listened when she said Alex was murdered. I have to do everything I can to save her."

Isabel frowned in confusion at this statement and then rolled her eyes when she realised what he was suggesting.

"Really, Max?" She spoke with disdain, "Do you honestly think I'd let you do alone? You're my brother. If you're going half way across the universe to take on evil aliens then I'm coming too. And if there's any chance that I can stop Kivar from killing another one of my friends then I'm going to do everything I can to stop him."

Tess smiled at them as she stepped forwards, "Of course you're not going alone. We'll all go. Liz is our friend, we won't abandon her."

Isabel took Max's hand again and squeezed it as they smiled briefly at each other.

"Now," Isabel kept her voice light, "We just have to figure out how to get there."

At that moment a car swooped down the street and pulled over right next to them.

"We found it!" Maria announced as she and Michael piled out of the Jetta. "We found what Alex was doing in Las Cruces."

Michael stepped up to them and handed Max a large wad of papers.

"It's the translation of the book," He told them.

Max took the pile of pages in shock.

" _The_ book?" He looked up at Michael, "Did you read it?"

"Skimmed it on the ride back," Michael shrugged, "Mostly seems to be a lot of genealogy crap."

Max's heart was pounding in hope and fear as he asked the only question that mattered at that moment.

"Was there anything about how to get back there? Back to that planet?"

"Uh, yeah," Michael frowned, "There was something about using the Granolith to get back. Why?"

Isabel exchanged a glance with Max, a relieved grin appearing briefly on her face, quickly swallowed by the realisation that this meant they would actually be leaving this planet that was the only home she'd ever known.

"Why?" Michael repeated.

Isabel turned back to him and answered since Max had already started flipping through the pages looking for the instructions.

"Because we got through to Liz," she revealed, "She's been taken by Kivar. She's already left Earth."

…

"I'm 38 miles from home. I'm 38 miles from home. Walk a mile, sit down a while, I'm 37 miles from home."

Liz sang half-heartedly to the empty cavern. She'd already counted down through '99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall', '10 Green Bottles Hanging on the Wall', '10 Fat Sausages Sizzling in a Pan' and '1 Green Hand Grenade Hanging on the Wall'. She'd interspersed these with other songs, challenging herself to remember the lyrics to songs she hadn't heard in years. She'd also tried to recall a poem she'd had to memorize for English in grade 7, recited the descriptions and definitions of cell cycle phases, and managed to arrange a good third of the periodic table in her head.

She'd embraced this technique of distracting herself from the situation after Tess had visited for the second time that day. Tess had been infuriatingly smug and assured as she fed Liz a can of cold ravioli and yet another smoothie. Liz had pushed aside the despair at seeing Tess so confident by trying to figure out what time of day it was based entirely on the length and angle of Tess's shadow when she entered.

It had taken her quite a while to decide that it was probably sometime between 11am and 4pm. That was such a uselessly inaccurate range that she'd spent another unmeasurable length of time trying to narrow that down based on arbitrary assumptions and wild speculation; and also on the fact that Tess had mentioned heading back to school, so at least that put an upper limit on things.

After she finally decided that it had been about 2pm when Tess had visited, Liz spent a matter of seconds letting her mind wander before the horror and pain of the situation reasserted itself. At which she promptly looked for something else to keep her mind occupied.

"…31 miles from home -" Liz cut off abruptly when she heard the first grinding noise that signalled the opening of the door. She braced herself to deal with Tess's gloating, determined not to let the other girl see how broken she was feeling. But it wasn't Tess who stepped through the door.

"Max?" Liz's voice came out in barely a croak as tears immediately sprung to her eyes.

Max turned slightly towards her, but his eyes flicked right past her to face Isabel and then Michael as they came through the door behind him.

"Max!" Liz called louder this time.

The three moved past her, oblivious, as Tess stepped through behind them. She glanced at Liz and gave her a small wink before ushering the others towards the light that Liz knew came from the Granolith.

"Max!" Liz cried out again and again, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm right here! Please! Please, just look at me!"

It was clear that they couldn't hear her, but it was incredibly hard to make herself stop calling when they were right there, so close to her, so close to saving her. She held her breath for a moment and tried to focus inside instead. Tess was affecting their minds, but she wasn't the only one with mental powers. Isabel could hear people sometimes too, and Liz and Max had definitely had _some_ kind of connection at one point.

She screwed up her eyes and focussed on them, just out of eyeshot. She tried to imagine reaching out to them with her mind, pushing at their minds, standing next to them and screaming in their ears, looking them in the eye and showing them where to look. Always the same message: I'm right here.

Max's voice broke through her focus.

"This is a key. When we insert it the Granolith will transport us. Home. It will take 24 hours for it to prepare itself. When it's ready we have to be on board or we don't go. The Granolith is capable of one mission, only one. When we use it it's gone. It's our only way home. It's 9:15 now, so we'll be leaving here at 9:15pm tomorrow. Is everyone ready?"

"This is happening too fast." Liz could hear trepidation in Isabel's voice.

"We don't have a choice if we want to get to Liz in time," Max replied.

"What about Leanna?" Michael queried, "If she's still out there how can we leave? We don't know what her role was in Alex's death. What's to stop her from killing Maria or Kyle or Valenti?"

"What if this is what they want?" Isabel added, "To get us to hand over the Granolith and ourselves with no way to get Liz home once we get there?"

"Yes!" Liz called out, "Listen to them, Max! This story doesn't make sense! Just stop and think about it."

"I know this isn't the most put together plan," Desperation was clear in Max's response, "But I have this feeling like wherever Liz is right now, whatever they're doing to her, she's running out of time. So I'm going. But I can't ask anyone else to do the same."

Liz dropped her head in despair, wondering if her attempts to get through to him had just made things worse.

"Max," Tess spoke reassuringly, "We're a team, a unit. If we work together I'm sure we can save her."

There was silence for a few moments and Liz wished she could see what was happening, whether the others still had doubts. Then there came an odd wooshing sound and the light that she could see grew brighter. This was followed by a series of beeping sounds and then Max spoke again, destroying the last hope she had that Isabel or Michael might have held on to their concerns.

"Everyone say your goodbyes."

Liz didn't bother trying to call out as they filed past her in the same order they'd entered. But she did notice that Tess wasn't gloating on the way out. There were no winks or smug smiles. In fact, she didn't even spare Liz a glance. Instead, she looked strained and exhausted. She seemed to almost stumble once and even reached out her hand to the wall for support as she passed through the doorway.

It gave Liz the tiniest spark of hope before the door slid shut behind them and she was left once more to her own despair. Accompanied now by an irritating, regular beeping sound coming from the Granolith.

* * *

 **The end is getting close now! Are you ready for what's coming next?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Getting closer and closer to the end on this one! Not sure how I'll feel when it's actually all over. But, there are still a couple more chapters to go. Hope you enjoy this one. I didn't have much time today for proofreading so if you spot any typos or mistakes please let me know so I can fix them.**

* * *

Isabel watched as her parents chatted about something innocuous while her mother was checking the oven.

There were less than 9 hours to go before she would be leaving them, with no idea when or if she'd ever see them again.

After their visit to the Granolith chamber she and the others had returned to town in silence, each contemplating what they wanted to do with their last day on earth. When they'd dropped off Michael he has insisted that he get the entire day alone, with Maria. They'd already agreed that she couldn't come with them, though she wasn't aware of that decision yet. Since they knew that Antarians couldn't survive Earth's atmosphere without serious technological support they didn't know whether humans could survive on Antar. They had to trust that if Kivar had bothered to drag Liz all that way then he had a way to protect her from the atmosphere if it was incompatible with humans, but they couldn't risk other humans based on the little knowledge they'd found in the book.

Max had dropped Tess off at the Valenti house and had promised he'd be by in the morning to talk to her about what she remembered of Antar and whether they could come up with any plan for once they got there. He also wanted to talk to Valenti about how to handle Leanna, or rather Jennifer, as Michael and Maria had discovered she was really called.

He and Isabel had driven the rest of the way home in silence.

When they got home they found that their parents had already gone to bed. Isabel was both relieved and disappointed. She wasn't sure that she could hide how emotional she was feeling at that moment, but she also wanted as much time as possible with the people who had raised her and loved her on this planet.

She hadn't expected to sleep that night with thoughts of dead friends and unknowable futures to keep her company, but the strain of the last few days took its toll and brought with it the comfort of swift, dreamless slumber.

But she'd woken up with dread oozing through her.

Max had left early to head to the Valenti's as promised for a day of plotting. She'd asked him if he would be home for dinner with their parents before they left, but he'd made a non-committal sound and given her a look that spoke volumes.

He didn't want to have to say goodbye to them. He didn't want to look them in the eye once more and pretend it was just another meal when he might never see them again. They were both equally upset to be leaving their parents, but she and Max were dealing with it in different ways. She wanted as much time as possible sitting still and holding on to what they had; he needed to keep moving and not think about what they were losing.

Which is how she found herself spending her Saturday morning with her parents, helping with chores and laughing about movies. But it hit her again, as she caught her mother watching her with concern, that this was her last day with them. Tomorrow they would report their children missing and some day they would probably be declared dead.

She felt the tears sting her eyes and excused herself before she went into total meltdown.

Upstairs, she collapsed onto her bed and gave herself over to sobs for a little while.

It was hard to believe that this was really happening. She hated the idea of leaving her parents, her home behind. She knew that Max wouldn't hold it against her if she stayed. She even wondered if he expected her to choose not to go with him after spending the day with their parents. She still wasn't sure that this was a wise choice or a remotely good plan. But one of her best friends had been kidnapped and another more than friend had been killed just because they had the misfortune of knowing her. She thought about what might happen to the other people she loved if she stayed. What would Kivar do to her parents if he got the chance? What about Maria and Valenti and Kyle? And what about Liz?

She and Liz hadn't always been friends. She'd found the petite brunette irritating in general. But it had turned out that being able to talk to someone other than her brother about what she was feeling and thinking was more valuable than she'd imagined. And Liz had always been patient and understanding with that, even when Isabel was scornful about it or disparaging of Liz's relationship with Max.

Isabel hadn't even realised how much she relied on Liz until the girl had disappeared, but she knew she couldn't abandon her.

Isabel scrubbed the tears from her face and reached once more for the photo that was getting a bit ragged at the edges from overuse. Maybe it wouldn't work without Tess and Max, but Liz should know that they were coming for her, that all hope wasn't lost yet.

Expecting white static, Isabel was surprised when a dark space flickered around her. She couldn't see where she was, everything around her blurred and shifted as she looked at it, but it seemed somehow familiar. She turned to inspect the area and spotted Liz.

Liz was also blurry, fading in and out of focus, but Isabel could tell she wasn't in great shape. She looked exhausted and in pain.

"Liz?" Isabel asked, hearing her voice echo into a whisper once it left her mouth.

Liz frowned and turned her head slightly towards Isabel but didn't respond.

"Liz!" Isabel shouted this time. She tried to move closer but felt like she was wading through mud. Her limbs would barely move.

This time Liz blinked and moved her head to directly face Isabel. She squinted into the darkness.

"Isabel?" Liz asked, disbelieving.

"Yes!" Isabel replied, fighting her way forward another inch. "I'm here! I can't believe this is working this time."

Liz shook her head and seemed to come into clearer focus.

"This feels very strange." Liz admitted, "I've never done this awake before."

"I don't know how long this connection will last." Isabel advised her. "They keep blocking me from getting through. But I wanted to tell you that we're coming. We've found a way off of Earth and we're coming to get you. Even if we have to cross the universe. So don't give up, okay Liz? Don't give up."

Liz shook her head again, tears seeping down her cheeks now.

"I know your plan," Liz cried, "It's all wrong. I told you before but she made you forget. I haven't been taken off of Earth. I'm right here in the Pod Chamber. I was right here when you came last night. She mind-warped you then like she did the last time you got through to me. Last night she made me invisible, the night before she made you forget that you dream-walked me. She made you forget that I told you the truth already."

Isabel froze as Liz's words sunk in.

"Tess is behind all of this." Liz said wearily, "And if she finds out you know then she'll make you forget. Or maybe she'll just kill you like she did Alex."

"Oh my god," Isabel let the disgust and fear sweep through her. "Max is with her right now, they're planning your rescue!"

"She won't hurt him," Liz assured her. "Not unless he's a threat to her plan. He's the one she wants the most. He's the one Kivar wants the most."

"Tess is working with Kivar?" Isabel felt suddenly like this was a conversation she needed to have awake.

"She's got some deal with him," Liz nodded.

Isabel steeled her determination. "Liz, I'm coming to get you. I'll leave right now, before Tess can find out. Will you be okay on your own until I get there?"

Liz laughed, but there wasn't a lot of hope in it.

"I've been on my own this long, Isabel." Came the response, "And it's not like I'm going anywhere regardless."

"Liz," Isabel wanted to reassure the other girl, but didn't think anything other than physically showing up would do it. "I'm coming, Liz. I promise."

With that she wrenched herself out of the dream state and back to reality.

She was still on her bed. Still in her house, with her parents downstairs. Everything was exactly the same except that nothing was the same.

Her heart was beating way too fast, her mind was racing with this new information. She wanted to call Max straight away, get him away from Tess, warn everyone that she couldn't be trusted. But Liz had made it clear that this wasn't the first time she'd been told about this. Isabel couldn't risk Tess making her forget again and everyone else would be safest if Tess thought she was winning.

Instead, she ran downstairs. Her parents were still in the kitchen, chatting animatedly like the world hadn't just shifted off its axis. Isabel's eyes caught on her dad's keys sitting by the front door and without giving it a second thought she grabbed them and tiptoed out to his car.

She'd never actually driven her dad's car before. He had made it clear that they had no reason to ever use his car, which wasn't insured for teenagers. She had no idea how he would react when he realised she'd stolen it.

 _Oh well_ , she thought, _guess I'll find out when I bring it back._

She started the engine and backed quickly out of the driveway, turning towards the desert and Liz.

It was about a 40 minute drive out to the Pod Chamber. She wanted to test the speedometer and reduce that as much as possible, but she also knew that this might be the only chance to save Liz, and the rest of them, from Tess's plan. So she couldn't risk getting pulled over in a technically stolen car or risk crashing in a technically uninsured car. So she focussed firmly on keeping the needle at a reasonable level just above the speed limit. When a red light stopped her she fumbled for her cell phone.

She couldn't risk calling Max or Valenti since they were both with Tess right now, but Michael had made it clear that he didn't want any interruptions while he said his goodbyes to Maria, so the two of them should be alone, safe from Tess's prying ears and suddenly terrifying powers.

She pressed the button for speakerphone as she started driving again.

"Come on," She whispered as ringing filled the vehicle.

" _It's Michael. You know the drill."_ Michael's succinct voicemail made her swear out loud.

She tried calling him again but again there was no answer.

"Damn it!" She swore at the useless phone, hanging up without leaving a message. This wasn't something she could put in a message and she knew he wouldn't check it any time soon.

He had demanded that no one disturb him all day, that he would be there on time to leave, but he wanted all the time he had left with Maria. Isabel sighed, knowing that he had probably put his phone on silent.

It didn't matter, she reminded herself. The only thing that mattered right now was getting to Liz while Tess was busy with Max and before the Granolith was meant to leave.

She started chewing on her nail as thoughts about all of the things that could happen during her drive occurred to her. What if Tess came out to check on Liz? What if she was 10 minutes ahead of Isabel and saw her drive up? What if Liz was hurt or sick and Isabel hadn't stopped to get any kind of first aid supplies?

 _Just get there_ , Isabel repeated to herself.

Just get there.

...

It was late afternoon by the time Isabel pulled to a stop next to the cliff that hid the Pod Chamber. She spared herself one moment to take a deep breath and prepare herself before jumping out of the car and running up the slope to the door.

Not knowing what she would find inside, Isabel swiped her hand over the unremarkable rock that glowed quickly with a silver hand print. She watched as the rock slid back and couldn't help hesitating slightly before stepping through.

What she found filled her with equal parts horror and relief.

"Liz!" She rushed forwards towards the other girl's side.

"Isabel?" Liz looked at her in disbelief, tears welling in her eyes once more. "You're really here?""

"I'm here," Isabel was crying herself as she leaned forwards to see what was holding Liz down. The sight of Liz's forearms disappearing into solid rock made her feel sick. Had Liz really been stuck like this the whole time? Two and a half days sitting on the floor of a cave?

Isabel reached out with a shaking hand and willed the rock away, freeing Liz at last.

Liz let out a cry of pain as she collapsed ungracefully to the ground. Her muscles were all seized up after so long stuck there and the pain from her arm, which had at least been held pretty still by the rock restraints, made her gasp.

But Isabel was beside her, reaching out tentatively, helping her to straighten her legs out.

It took several minutes of flexing her joints and massaging her muscles before she felt like she might be able to stand. While they worked on her legs Liz told Isabel everything that she knew. The only thing she left out was the why. She'd decided, during her enforced meditation, that she needed to tell the others the truth about the baby, but she knew that Max deserved to hear it first. Instead, she let Isabel draw her own conclusions, that Tess had taken Liz because she was on the way to figuring out what happened to Alex and had kept her alive as bait to make them initiate the Granolith to take them off of the planet.

Finally, Isabel managed to lever Liz to her feet and, wrapping Liz's good arm around her shoulders, supported her across the room to the entrance to the Granolith.

"We have to stop it," Isabel said.

"Do you know how?" Liz asked as they moved into the brightly glowing room.

"Not a clue," Isabel admitted, "But we can't risk Tess being able to leave today."

The countdown on the wall was down below a quarter, but Isabel didn't bother counting the exact amount of time left. She had no intention of sticking around that long.

She pulled Liz over to the side of the small room and gingerly eased her into a position leaning against the sloping wall. Unencumbered, she made her way to the central column.

"It was here." She said, crouching to where she had watched the crystal sink through the glass. "Max put the key in here and the whole thing started."

"Can you just pull it out?" Fatigue coloured Liz's question.

"Maybe?" Isabel reached out to the spot it had gone in and tried reach through the barrier, but it was solid. She focussed on her power instead, reaching out for the molecules to try and push them apart. It was like there wasn't anything there for her powers to latch onto.

Isabel tried again and again but nothing she could think of made any change in the constant beeping countdown.

"Argh!" She let out a frustrated yell and slammed her fist down on the dark column base.

"This has to work!" She kept threw her hands out at the whole column, at the countdown on the wall beside her, even at the ceiling. "I'm not letting Tess get off of this planet!"

She kept flailing, throwing energy at everything around her hoping something would break. She saw Liz flinch as a crunching sound came from outside but she didn't stop. Tess had killed Alex, kidnapped Liz and planned to hand the people Isabel loved most over to their enemies. And Tess's power still terrified Isabel. There was a time when she'd been awed by what the girl could do, had been comforted by her power. But now she knew that that power had been used on her. Tess had made her forget, had blocked her from seeing Liz when she was right in front of them. Isabel was scared of what Tess might be capable of, petrified of what was going to happen when they tried to confront her. She threw both hands out towards the cone coming from the ceiling with a vicious cry of anger.

There was a crack and the entire room went dark.

Isabel focussed on her hand and called light into her palm. She could see a jagged crack running through the glass-like shaft in the middle of the room.

"Well," She said shakily, "I guess that's that."

She turned to Liz, finding the girl still standing against the wall, watching her.

"I guess now we're never going home." Isabel's voice broke. She hadn't realised that she'd always thought that would be an option until this moment when she realised it wasn't anymore.

"Isabel," Liz pushed herself off of the wall and stumbled forward to grasp Isabel's arm. "You are home. You belong here, with people who love you. Not there where people want to kill you. I don't care what your DNA looks like. You'll always be a sister to me."

Isabel sniffed and pulled Liz into a one armed hug, careful of Liz's broken arm.

"Thanks, Liz. You're family to me, too."

They made their way carefully through the darkness until Isabel could reach the spot on the wall that opened the doorway. The sun was setting outside, but it still made Liz's eyes water after days in the dim chamber.

"On the plus side," Isabel offered, "With the Granolith broken, there won't be any reason for us to come out here again."

Liz managed a genuine smile as she felt the wind on her face. A whole future outside of that room had opened up for her again. No matter how the rest of the night worked out, in that moment, she was free.

* * *

 **Huzzah! She's finally free. That took way too long. I think I'll be able to post the rest up next week, so stay tuned.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm not going to distract you with notes now, I'm close enough now to leave comments until the end.**

* * *

"So how do we do this?" Isabel asked when they were back in her dad's car and on the road to Roswell. "If Tess can make anyone forget anything and can make everybody see things that aren't real, how do we fight that?"

"There are limits to her power," Liz leaned her head against the window. "I saw it when you guys showed up last night. You were only there for a few minutes, but when you came out she was exhausted. Making all three of you see an empty room took all of her effort. She could barely walk straight afterwards."

"So, what? We just get as many people as possible in one place when we confront her?" Isabel sounded incredulous. "I mean, unless we want to announce to the world that we're aliens there's kind of a limit on how many people we can invite."

"I think…" Liz sighed, "I think that if you're expecting it, if you're prepared and fighting her, then the three of you have a chance on your own. I think she only succeeded because you all trusted her. You left yourselves open to her manipulation."

"But you said you told me it was her before." Isabel frowned. "I don't remember that so she must have wiped my memory when I _was_ expecting it."

"Granted," Liz conceded, "I don't have a lot more than speculation to go on here. I'm guessing that she can take one of you no matter how much you fight it and all three of you if you're not expecting it, but I think that the three of you together can keep her out. And a few extra human witnesses can't hurt."

"So…" Isabel glanced at Liz, "Do you have _anything_ other than speculation to go on with that theory?"

Liz looked at Isabel and smiled sadly, "No. Just a gut feeling. Maybe just a blind hope."

"Right." Isabel looked back towards the road.

They travelled in silence for a moment while they both pondered the situation.

"Well," Isabel announced, "We'd better have a backup plan then. Some way to get a message to ourselves in case she makes us forget. She can't get out on the Granolith today, but we can't guarantee that she won't know how to fix it or find another way off of this planet. So we have to prepare for the worst; that she'll try to carry out this plan again."

"You said Max was with her today," Liz stated, "Is he still there?"

"As far as I know," Isabel said, "I can call him and check."

"Not yet," Liz ignored her desire to hear Max's voice straight away, "We might only get one chance at getting the drop on Tess. We can't risk her finding out while she's got Max alone. Once we put some contingencies in place we can figure out the best plan."

"Okay," Isabel took a breath and then put on the turn signal. "You're right."

"Where are we going?" Liz asked.

"Michael's," Isabel replied, "He demanded that we all leave him alone with Maria all day so they could say their goodbyes. They'll be alone there and there's no reason for Tess to go looking for them."

...

Isabel glanced around surreptitiously as she helped Liz from the car. It would be sort of inconvenient if some neighbour recognised Liz as the missing girl who'd been all over the news today. Slinging an arm around the shorter girl's waist Isabel hurried her towards the door to Michael's apartment. She knocked loudly but didn't wait for an answer before waving her hand in front of the lock and pushing open the door.

"Michael?" Isabel called.

"What the hell, Izzy?" Michael's voice came from the bedroom along with shuffling noises and a small clatter as something fell to the floor. "I told you not to –"

Michael froze as he strode through the door from his bedroom, staring at the two people standing by his front door. Suddenly he was moving, rushing forwards to envelope Liz in a hug.

"What's going on?" Maria followed Michael, tugging on the hem of her dress. She made it two steps into the room before she spotted her best friend.

"Liz?" Maria moved more slowly, reaching out as if she wasn't sure the other girl was real.

"Hey, Maria." Liz whispered, disentangling herself from Michael's grip to reach for Maria.

"You're here?" Maria seemed to come to herself suddenly and then she was wrapping her arms around Liz and holding on like she'd never let go.

"How?" Maria glanced at Isabel. "How is this possible?"

"Where's Max?" Michael asked.

"He doesn't know yet." Isabel admitted.

"What?" Michael asked, "How can you keep this from him?"

"He's not the one we're keeping this from," Liz spoke up, still holding on tightly to Maria with her good hand. "But we can't risk Tess finding out until we're ready for her."

Silence followed that statement but it didn't last long.

"Tess?!" Maria burst out at the same moment that Michael swore.

"That bitch!" The vehemence in Maria's voice was almost painful. "She was behind everything? But why?"

Liz sighed, leaning heavily on Maria. She was completely exhausted and incredibly hungry and still scared of Tess and what would happen when she found out Liz had escaped.

"It's a really long story." Liz winced at the strain in her voice. "And we're starting to run out of time. Tess can make us all forget if she finds out that we know what she did, so we have to act before she finds out."

Isabel nodded, "I'll go now. You can explain the plan while I'm gone. I'll call Max from the car."

"What -?" Michael frowned as Isabel opened the door again.

"Liz will explain." Isabel assured him, and then she was gone.

Michael turned back to Liz, focussing clearly on her for the first time after the shock of finding her in his apartment at all. She looked… broken. She looked exhausted and in pain.

"Here," He reached out to help her to the couch but she hissed in pain when he touched her arm. More carefully, he tried again and with Maria's help got her across the room to sit down.

"What can we do?" He asked Liz, "Do you want a painkiller or…" He trailed off, no idea what else to offer.

"I'm actually pretty hungry." Liz admitted, smiling at him.

"Right," Michael jumped at the task, "Food. I can do that."

"Liz," Maria was looking at her friend in fear, "Can you tell us what happened? What is still apparently happening?"

Liz took a steadying breath and tightened her grip on Maria's hand. She could see Michael watching from the kitchen as he threw some kind of sandwich together.

"Tess killed Alex." Liz started with the worst. "She said that it was an accident, that he was remembering something she'd made him forget, but when she tried to mind-warp him it killed him."

Liz swallowed. It was harder than she'd expected to tell them. She could see the tears in Maria's eyes, but her friend seemed to be trying to hold it together for her.

"When I wouldn't let it go, when I said that he had been murdered, she started following me. She wanted to make sure I didn't find anything. She was on my balcony when you came to see me. She heard us talking." Liz hesitated, but plunged on. "She heard us talking about the baby."

Maria's hand went instinctively to her mouth as she realised what Liz was saying.

"She heard us talking about the _father_." Maria whispered, not noticing the way Michael's head whipped around at that revelation. "Oh god, it's my fault. And I kept telling Max that couldn't have anything to do with it."

"No." Liz exclaimed, "It wasn't your fault Maria. It was her fault. And… And it was my fault. None of this would have happened if I hadn't changed things."

Maria looked at Liz with sympathy, "This wasn't you, Liz. You acted on the best information you had at the time. You couldn't know what was going to happen."

Michael wandered back with a grilled cheese sandwich cut into bite sized pieces on a plate.

"How about we all agree it was nobody's fault but Tess," He suggested, "Even those of us who have no idea what you're talking about. Because I don't have to know what you're talking about to know that this wasn't your fault."

Liz smiled at him gratefully as she released Maria's hand to take the plate. She rested it on her lap so she could eat with her good hand.

"Can you tell us why Isabel left in such a hurry?" Michael asked as she chewed.

Liz nodded and swallowed.

"Tess can make people forget. She made Isabel forget the first time that she dream-walked me the night before last and she made all three of you see an empty room when you came to the Pod Chamber last night."

"You were at the Pod Chamber this whole time?" Michael asked while Maria shifted her grip to Liz's leg.

Liz nodded again.

"I think that if all three of you are together and you're ready for it, then Tess won't be able to mind-warp you. Or at least not all of you. But in case I'm wrong, Isabel has gone home to leave a message for herself somewhere that she knows she'll find it. So if Tess does make us all forget then Isabel will be reminded, and she can dream-walk the rest of us to remind us without Tess finding out."

"What about Max?" Maria asked.

"Max is with Tess now, so we can't risk him finding out until he's got some backup. So Isabel was going to call and suggest that everyone meet here before heading out to the Granolith. He'll call her before he leaves so we'll know when he and Tess will show up here."

Liz ate some more of her sandwich as she let them absorb the information.

"What about the Granolith?" Michael asked, "We just let it leave without us?"

"Oh, um…" Liz hesitated, realising this could be bad news to Michael, "Isabel kind of… broke it. Maybe permanently. The whole thing went dark. So… you might be stuck here forever."

Liz glanced at Maria who was watching Michael with a calculatedly unemotional expression.

Michael smiled and reached out for Maria's free hand.

"No place I'd rather be stuck." He replied.

Liz fielded a few more questions between bites before turning the questions on them. Together they related where Alex had disappeared to for three months and how they had found out what he was doing. They explained how Tess had convinced them that Liz was no longer on Earth and how Maria and Michael had conveniently shown up with the instructions for the Granolith straight away.

"God," Maria scoffed, "We thought we were so clever. We thought we'd outsmarted some evil alien mastermind. We stole some mail and avoided one really obvious bomb that came with beeping flashing warnings. Of course it was way too easy. The evil alien mastermind was using us like puppets and we just… we just did exactly what she wanted."

Michael grunted in agreement, "I feel like an idiot."

Liz finished the food Michael had given her and leaned forward to put the plate on the table, wincing again when she jostled her broken arm.

"Okay," Maria took charge, "We have to do something about that. Michael, find something we can use as a splint. And see if you can find some clean clothes or something that won't fall right off her. Liz, come on. We're going to clean you up."

Liz let Maria haul her to her feet and lead her to the bathroom.

"I could do with that painkiller now, too." She admitted.

Michael appeared with a shirt and some sweatpants that had a tie at the waistband. He stayed long enough to help Maria splint Liz's arm with a ruler and a wooden spoon before giving them some privacy so that Maria could strip Liz of the clothes she'd been stuck in for 3 days.

They kept bursting into spontaneous laughter or tears as they cleaned Liz up as best they could with washcloths. They kept their conversation to other topics, Maria told Liz about her day with Michael but avoided mentioning the fact that they'd both thought it was goodbye. They talked about the Chemistry test next week and whether Vicki Delaney had cheated on her boyfriend.

Maria was easing Liz's wrist, splint and all, through the wide sleeve of Michael's shirt when they heard a knock at the door. The pair froze, exchanging concerned glances as they listened for Isabel's voice, but when they finally heard the door open it was Max whose voice they heard.

"It's time to go." Max spoke quickly.

"Max, Tess, Valenti," Michael spoke loudly and Maria smiled, knowing that he was speaking for their benefit. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean what are we doing here?" Max asked. "It's time to go. We're here to pick you up."

"Where's Kyle?" Michael asked, stalling.

"He stayed home." Max replied, "He's not really necessary for this part. Now, come on. We have to get to the Granolith before it leaves."

"Why don't you come inside?" Michael suggested, "We have to wait for Isabel anyway."

"We don't have time for this!" Max exclaimed in frustration, "We have to go. We'll pick Isabel up on the way."

"I'm not going," Michael announced.

"What?!" Max and Tess spoke in unison.

"Come inside, I'll explain."

Inside the bathroom, Maria quickly finished buttoning Liz's shirt as they heard people moving into the room next door.

"Michael," Max's voice was edged with desperation, "What do you mean you aren't coming?"

"I mean, I'm staying. I found my home and it's right here on Earth. With Maria."

Maria gave Liz a smile and signalled for her to stay there. She opened the bathroom door enough to step out without giving anyone a view inside.

The four people in the living room were ranged around in clear lines of support. Michael stood in the middle of the room, between the others and the bathroom, Maria noticed. Max and Tess were across from him, closest to the door, while Valenti stood off to the side.

Max was giving Michael a look of understanding and disappointment as Maria joined them, walking over to take Michael's hand.

Max smiled and nodded at Maria, moving towards the pair to give them each a hug.

"I'm glad you've found your place, Michael," Max said tearily, "I don't like leaving without you, but I'm glad you'll be here to protect the others, too."

Tess made a frustrated sound, "Look, I hate to be the one who brings things back to reality, but we have to leave soon if we want to catch the Granolith."

"We can wait for Isabel," Michael responded, holding onto Max's arm to prevent him from returning to Tess's side. "I need to say goodbye to her too."

"Or," Tess suggested, "You could come with us and say goodbye when we get there."

"No!" Michael insisted, "Isabel will be here soon. We can wait for her to get here."

"Michael," Max frowned at his friend, "I get that this is hard, but we have to go. Delaying this won't make it easier."

"This isn't about easy, Maxwell," Michael's voice raised a notch. "I just think we should wait for Isabel."

"We have no idea how long she's going to be!" Tess was yelling now, "How long do you expect us to wait here when we're running out of time?"

Suddenly everyone was talking loudly over one another when Isabel suddenly burst through the door.

"That's enough!" She exclaimed as she quickly made her way across the room to stand beside Michael and Maria.

"Finally," Tess rolled her eyes, "Can we go now? We are on a deadline here."

"We're not going anywhere, Tess." Isabel turned to face the other girl, bracing herself for whatever was coming next.

"What?!" Tess fumed as Max turned to look at his sister.

Max nodded sadly at her, "It's okay, Iz. I thought you might want to stay."

"I cannot believe this!" Tess stepped forward, "What the hell is wrong with you people? Liz is out there! She could be dying. I thought you cared about her. Am I seriously the only one willing to risk everything for this?"

"Yeah, Tess." Liz stepped out of the bathroom. "You are the only one willing to risk everything."

Liz moved forward, ignoring the cries of shock and question from Max and Valenti; her eyes were locked on the woman who had caused all of this.

"You see," Liz continued, "The rest of us actually value what we have here. We think it's worth fighting for, worth holding on to. We gave you a chance to be a part of it. We gave you a place, a family. And you betrayed us. For what? For a throne on a far-away planet surrounded by people who wish they could kill you? For a verbal promise from a mass murderer?"

Max was frozen in shock as his eyes skipped between Liz and Tess, barely able to comprehend what Liz's words were implying. Valenti, on the other hand, was making the unpleasant connections very quickly. He moved closer to Liz's side, drawing his gun but keeping it pointed down, away from the girl that he'd welcomed into his home.

"You could have had any life that you wanted here, Tess," Liz wasn't done yet. "But you were willing to risk everything on this stupid plan. Well, now you've lost everything. Now you're nothing."

"You're the one that's nothing, slut!" Tess spat, "You think you're special just because you managed to trick Max into knocking you up? You're nothing more than an incubator for the heir and once Kivar finds out you're as good as dead."

Michael stepped forward with his hand raised threateningly, but Tess reacted faster, her arm shooting out to throw Michael backwards.

"Michael!" Maria cried out, running to his side where he'd smashed into the wall.

Green light burst into existence in the middle of the room as Max threw up a shield between them and Tess.

"Really, Max?" Tess laughed, "You may think you're the king, but I've been training since I came out of the pod. All three of you are weak."

Tess raised her hand towards the green wall fluctuating in front of Max's hand. A look of concentration came over her face as the light brightened and compressed in front of her fingers.

Isabel quickly moved forwards, leaning into Max to lend him her strength. Tess's eyes narrowed as sweat began to bead on her forehead. Their struggle became silent as Max and Isabel kept Tess at bay while Michael struggled to stand behind them and Liz and Valenti looked on from the side.

The shield seemed to be getting larger and more stable when Tess suddenly flicked her eyes to the right with a vindictive look. With one hand still focussed on the battle in front of her, her spare hand shot out in the other direction, away from Max and Isabel. Towards Liz.

Liz felt a force slam into her chest, throwing her backwards. Valenti's quick reactions saved her from a painful collision with the kitchen bench as he dived behind her, catching her as they both tumbled to the floor.

"Liz!" Max shouted, his gaze tearing away from the struggle to look towards her in a moment of distraction.

It was enough. As his attention flagged, Tess managed to break through most of his shield, tossing Isabel away from the fray.

In an instant he was shoved backwards half a metre. He refocused on the shield in front of him, but the damage was done. Without Isabel's help he could feel Tess's power pushing him back, pressing him down. He dropped to one knee as he held the wavering green light between himself and Tess. Through it he could make out her eyes. They were furious and desperate and he knew that if she got through the shield she wouldn't waste time on trying to mind-warp anyone. Liz had already pointed out that Tess had nothing left to lose. Looking at the snarl on her face he felt cold certainty sink into his bones.

She was going to kill him.

He couldn't spare a glance for the others around him to see if any of them would be able to help him. All of his attention was on the face in front of him. He barely even blinked when a loud crack ripped through the room.

Tess's eyes went wide for a second, and then Max felt himself lurch forward as the pressure she'd been putting on him vanished. He watched as Tess raised a shaking hand to her chest, fingers coming away bloody.

Instinctively, Max dropped his shield and stepped forward, reaching out to heal her, when another shot rang out and Tess lurched sideways.

He ducked as he glanced to the side to the source of the sound as a third shot came.

Liz was standing, holding a revolver in shaking hands, gasping with sobs. A single glimpse of her face had him raising his shield once more, not trusting her ability to hold the gun straight, let alone see clearly through the tears streaming down her face.

Valenti quickly struggled to his feet behind Liz and stepped forward, wrapping his hand around the gun and pulling it from her unresisting hand.

As soon as the weapon was out of her grasp Liz dropped to her knees, her hand coming to her mouth in horror.

Max dropped the shield and rushed to her side.

"I... I…" Liz was trembling, staring at the floor behind him. Max glanced back and could see that Tess was already beyond his help. He turned back to the person he could still help.

"I…" Liz was still mumbling, "I…"

"Liz?" Max tried to turn her gaze from Tess's body but her eyes stayed glued to the scene as he moved her head.

"I… I killed her," Liz's voice broke. "I killed her."

Valenti knelt next to Max, tucking the revolver back into the holster on his hip. He inspected Liz for a moment and then turned to Max.

"Max, take her into the bathroom. She doesn't need to see this." Valenti instructed, "But don't heal her yet. Her injuries are evidence."

"Evidence?" Max asked sharply, "Evidence of what?"

"Max, trust me." Valenti met his gaze resolutely. "You need to get her out of this room right now. We'll take care of the rest. Just trust me, please."

Max hesitated, horrified by the idea of Liz having to face murder charges, but knowing that Valenti was right, she couldn't stay here another moment. He nodded, scooping Liz into his arms and carrying her away from the sight of Tess, lying broken on the floor in the middle of Michael's living room.

Max settled Liz onto the edge of the bathtub.

"Liz?" He asked gently.

Tears were falling silently down her cheeks as she stared past him at something she could no longer see with her eyes. Max pushed back the myriad questions that been raised since he arrived, focusing instead on the problem right in front of him.

"Liz, look at me." He turned her head to face him, his heart breaking at the despair in her eyes when they finally met his.

"I killed her," Liz whispered.

Max reached out to brush a stray hair from her face.

"She would have killed me," He tried to reassure her. "I was losing, Liz. You saved me."

Liz shook her head, "But you would have healed her. I knew you would heal her. So I kept shooting. She wasn't a threat anymore, but I kept shooting. I killed her."

"Liz, after what she did to you…" He hesitated, "I don't even know what she did to you, what else she threatened to do. You had every reason to be scared of her, scared of what she would do if I healed her. Tess was a monster. She needed to be stopped."

"Was she?" Liz's voice was stronger now, "She said she was just following through on a plan Nasedo came up with. She was what he raised her to be. She wasn't a good person, but that doesn't mean she was irredeemable. She could have killed me. If she'd killed me then her original plan would have worked again. But she didn't. She didn't want me dead, but I wanted her dead. I thought of the life my child would have in a world - in a universe - that she was a part of, and I knew it would be hard, that we would always be afraid, and I killed her. So what does that make me?"

Max gave her a half a smile, "I think that makes you a mother."

"It's all my fault." Liz stared crying again.

"No," Max grasped her shoulders, "This is Tess's fault. She made the choices that brought us here. She chose to kidnap you. She had other options. You said it yourself, we would have given her an entire life here. It wasn't your fault that she chose this."

"It was," Liz nodded forlornly, "I made choices too."

"Well so did I," Max thought of his own mistakes, "If I had listened to you when you told me Alex was murdered then this never would have happened. God, I have made so many mistakes and they've all led us here. I swear, if I could go back and change it all I would."

"You can't, Max," Liz said wearily.

"I know, somethings are beyond even my powers." He replied sadly.

"No, I mean you can, that's why you can't," Liz answered cryptically.

"What?" Max frowned in confusion.

"I mean," Liz took a breath, "Assuming that whatever Isabel did to the Granolith to make it stop the countdown is fixable, then you do have the power to go back and change time. But you don't have any control over what happens instead. You don't have any way of ensuring that the new future you create will be any better than the one that you left. So you can't fix your mistakes by going back in time and changing your decisions, you might just make things worse."

Max felt a tremor move down his spine at her words. Already his mind was throwing different fragments of conversations and events over the last few months together. The picture it created was missing the majority of the pieces, but he could guess what it might turn into.

He couldn't seem to put together enough words to express his confusion and shock. All he could voice were the questions that most needed answers.

"When? Why?"

Liz took a steadying breath and closed her eyes. When she spoke, her voice was restrained and resigned.

"He appeared just before the Mariachi band. He said that there was going to be a war in 14 years and we were going to lose. I didn't believe him at first, but he knew you were coming with the band. He knew the future. But from the minute he showed up, the future changed, and he didn't know anything about this future. He thought Tess was the answer. He thought getting her to stay in Roswell would save everyone's lives. But in his world, she left before she could hurt anyone. In his world Alex made it out of high school."

Liz finally opened her eyes, but still refused to look at him.

"I believed him," She continued, "I helped him. I broke your heart so that there would be space in it for her. I caused this."

She looked at Max at last, "You can wonder what might have happened if you had made different choices, but I know. I know that if I hadn't pretended to sleep with Kyle then Alex would still be alive and we would have years of peace ahead of us before your enemies showed up here."

Max was silent after Liz finished her confession. All of the events of the last few months were playing over in his head in this new light. He felt betrayed and relieved and sympathetic all at once. It was all so understandable and so unimaginable. Of course she had trusted an older experienced Max. He probably would have as well. They wandered blindly through so many situations that anyone who could offer them alien related guidance felt like a gift.

He was angry that she hadn't told him earlier. They were a team, aliens and humans working together against all of this, they weren't meant to keep big alien threats a secret from each other. But he also couldn't imagine the isolation she must have felt over the last few months, after the sacrifices she'd made in the belief that she was saving all of them.

He remembered seeing her with Kyle, remembered how every instinct in him screamed that it wasn't true, that Liz would never do that. He'd been right.

So many things made sense now. But a few things he still needed to hear her say.

"Tess said…" He hesitated, trying to find the words. "She said the baby…"

He trailed off, not wanting to voice his thoughts if he was wrong.

Liz dropped his gaze again, staring at her hands.

"I thought…" Her voice trembled with emotion, "I couldn't ever be with you, I couldn't ever tell you what happened. He was pretty clear about that. I thought I had lost any future with the only man I've ever loved... But he was still there. And he was you. I… I just wanted one more moment to hold onto. I'm so sorry."

"Say it," Max begged, "Please."

Liz took a shuddering breath but when she spoke again her voice was steady.

"I slept with a future version of you who will never exist. This child is genetically yours."

Max sat back against the wall as he tried to process all of the implications of that knowledge. He had no idea what to think or feel in that moment. He certainly had no idea what to say. He was saved having to think of anything when the door opened and Valenti stepped inside.

"The police and an ambulance are on their way," Valenti told them. "There are some details of the story that we need to get straight before they get here."

* * *

 **Just an epilogue to follow now, and I'll be posting that up today as well.**


	11. Epilogue

**This is it, your final chapter. I have officially finished something that I started. I actually posted up 2 chapters today, so if you just jumped straight to the lastest chapter to continue the story please make sure you've read the previous one first.**

* * *

Liz picked at her tray of food unenthusiastically. She had only been stuck in this hospital bed for a few hours and already she was bored.

Though, at least she wasn't alone. Her dad had been sitting silently next to her bed for the last 40 minutes. It was pretty clear he had no idea what to say to her. She had no idea what anyone should say to her. She wished everything could go back to normal, but she also didn't feel like she knew how to be normal anymore. So instead she sat in silence with her dad and was comforted just by his presence.

Things had happened pretty quickly once the police had arrived. She had answered their questions with the responses that Valenti had coached her through and whenever she hadn't been sure what to say she'd simply started crying and babbling about the pain and how scared she was that her baby might not be okay. She wanted to claim that she was an excellent actress, but the truth was those were the moments she wasn't acting. In fact, she'd spontaneously burst into tears twice more just since her dinner had arrived.

The police had taken photos of her injuries and had taken her shoes and the clothes she had arrived at Michael's in as evidence. Then they'd released her to the EMTs and assured her that her parents were already on the way to the hospital to meet her. She'd asked if one of her friends could ride with her, but they'd insisted on questioning them separately first.

And so she'd spent the last hours with only her parents at the hospital, with no idea whether the story they'd spun for Hanson was holding up. Not knowing what they'd done with Tess's body while she was in the bathroom with Max. Wondering how Max was feeling about the bombshells she'd dropped on him and thinking about all of the things she failed to mention, the things that she should have explained when she had the chance.

At least there were plenty of distractions. They'd done scans and taken blood tests to check on the baby. They'd set her arm and put it in a cast, explaining the procedure for when and how it would be removed. They'd sent in some flavour of counsellor, she hadn't been paying attention when they explained who she was, to talk to her about dealing with trauma. And then they'd wheeled her into a private room where she could sit in silence with her parents, not sure how to talk to them.

She felt like this was her new reality. She imagined a decade of silent family dinners and muted interactions. She cringed at the thought but still couldn't imagine chatting with them again the way they used to.

Liz glanced over as the door opened, expecting to see her mother returning after her trip home to pick up some things. Her pulse jumped at the sight of Max stepping into the room.

"Hi," Max spoke quietly.

"Hi," Liz breathed her response.

"Max," Her dad spoke up from the chair beside her.

"Mr Parker," Max nodded at her dad before turning back to Liz. He gestured feebly towards her stomach, "Is it – Is everything okay?"

Liz nodded, "The scans look fine, but we're still waiting on the blood tests. They're concerned about undernutrition. Tess got better about feeding me later, but at first she… she sort of forgot a few times. They said it's not all that likely but apparently the highest risk problems from that would be developmental issues that wouldn't be visible straightaway."

Liz met Max's eyes and found turmoil there to match her own.

"Dad," She kept her eyes on Max, "Can I speak to Max alone for a bit?"

"Lizzy –" Her dad began uncertainly.

"Please, Dad," She turned to give him a nod, "I'm not going anywhere. I just need to talk to Max."

Her dad sighed and nodded, "Okay, sweetie. I'll be right outside."

They waited in silence as her dad moved past Max and out the door, closing it behind him to give them privacy.

Liz fidgeted with her spoon while Max stood quietly next to her.

"How did it go with the police?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"Fine," Max replied, "It went just the way Valenti expected. With your injuries as evidence of what she'd done, no one was surprised at the idea that Tess ran when she heard you'd shown up at Michael's. There'll be a manhunt for her and a full investigation, but Valenti says that you won't be interrogated more or called on to testify when they haven't got anyone to arrest. Basically, since we know they'll never find her it's over for us."

"I'm sorry," Liz changed the topic abruptly, "I know I kind of dumped a lot of disjointed information on you. I'm sure there was a better way to tell you."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Max stepped within arm's reach, but Liz still felt like he was miles away. Though there was less anger and disappointment in his voice than she'd feared.

"A lot of reasons," She admitted, "Maria kept trying to convince me to just tell you but… Future Max said that no one could ever know he'd been here and I believed him, right up until Alex died when I realised that he didn't have any idea how his presence would affect things. Plus, I didn't know how to tell you something like that. That I'd cheated on you in such a weird way. I didn't think anyone would believe that story.

"And also," She stared down at her hands, unable to meet his gaze, "I didn't want to make you feel obligated. Genetically, this might be your child, but it wasn't your choices or your mistakes that created it, so you shouldn't have to feel responsible."

"Liz," Max reached out at last and took her hand and Liz felt the warm wave of his power move through her wrist as he healed it within the cast, her pain disappearing the way it so often did when he was there. "I can't pretend that this situation isn't complicated and confusing. There are a lot of feelings and thoughts that I haven't sorted out yet. But there're a few things that I do know. I know that my life is always better when you are a part of it. I know that through all of the mistakes I've made and problems I've created, you've always been there for me. I know that you make me feel happy and content, but also safe and optimistic. You make me believe that anything is possible. You give me faith in the future. Even when you're telling me that it's bleak.

"I don't know how to make this work now. There are so many factors to consider and things to figure out. But when I thought that I had lost you it put things in perspective. And when I think about that baby – honestly, I'm not sure what I'm meant to feel – but I know I want to be a part of it. I imagine you leaving like you'd planned and it hurts. I want to be with you, Liz; but I also want to be a father to your child, to our child. And whatever we have to do, whatever compromises or counselling or paper work we have to go through, I'm prepared to face any of that to make this work."

Liz felt tears prick her eyes for the third time that hour, but, for the first time since she'd heard the words "Alex is dead" so many days ago, she felt hopeful. A weight she hadn't even realised she'd been carrying for months lifted and suddenly all of the things she'd been dreading seemed bearable. Maybe it would take her forever to remember how to talk to her parents, maybe she would have to deal with a child that had some kind of birth defect, maybe 14 years from now they would have to fight off an alien invasion, or maybe everything would fall in her favour and she would only have to decide what she wanted out of the rest of her life. All of the things that had felt insurmountable just a few minutes ago felt possible with Max beside her.

"I want that too," Liz smiled, "And I have a suggestion for the first step to making this work. No more lies. Keeping secrets from you is what led us here. So from now on, no secrets from each other for any reason."

"No more secrets," He agreed, "Unless Maria is planning a surprise party, because I fear her wrath if I ruined that more than I fear all of the crazy aliens in the universe."

Liz laughed. She couldn't even remember when she'd last laughed honestly except that it had been too long. She knew she wasn't done crying yet, but in that moment she decided that if she could just laugh as much as she cried, then she could get through this. That meant she was going to have to find a lot of things to laugh about, but at least she knew she could count on Max to help her with that.

Their lives were never going to be easy, but as long as they looked after each other they could face anything.

* * *

 **Well, that's it from me. I know it's not exactly a happily ever after ending, but it's about the closest I'm willing to get. Because after everything they've been through happy would take time and care, but hope is something they can have straight away.**

 **This has been an interesting experience for me as my first foray into actually publishing things that I write. Please review and let me know how you feel about the story. I'm chock full of self doubt on these things so hearing what you think was good and what you think could be better is great. I have started another long story that is quite a bit more complicated than this one, but I found it kind of stressful trying to post when I hadn't actually finished writing the story, so it might be a while before I post anything new.**

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you had fun.**


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